Workplace Noise Assessments: Protecting Your Employees

A noise risk assessment evaluates how loud your workplace is, who’s affected by the noise (and whether it’s causing them damage), and how to fix any issues. If you employ people in noisy environments, UK law requires you to commission one – and act on what it finds.

Loud working environments can cause permanent hearing problems – and the UK still has a sizeable workplace noise problem. The Health and Safety Executive’s most recent figures put around 15,000 workers in Great Britain living with self-reported work-related hearing problems (2022/23 to 2024/25), with hundreds of thousands more exposed to harmful noise levels in industries like construction, manufacturing, and farming. Hearing impairment is also linked to vertigo and balance disorders, cardiovascular issues, and heightened dementia risk.

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is most often the result of prolonged or repeated exposure to loud sounds, usually over 85 decibels (dB).

Which industries are most at risk from workplace noise?

NIHL can affect workers in any industry, but typically targets staff across construction, manufacturing, transport, music (including schoolteachers), and farming.

Most cases are caused by career-long exposure, such as daily shifts in a noisy warehouse or years of power tool use. And because hearing loss develops over time – usually without pain or noticeable symptoms – workers rarely recognise debilitating health conditions until it’s too late.

Beyond its obvious effect on staff health, NIHL drives broader business and organisational issues – impacting workplace safety, staff performance, and bottom-line results:

• Hearing loss as a whole costs the UK economy an estimated £25 billion a year in lost productivity, unemployment, and increased pressure on health and social care services (RNID, Hearing Matters, 2020).
• It’s a key contributor to regulatory fines and reputational damage – and industrial deafness remains one of the most common drivers of employers’ liability claims for occupational disease.
• It also indirectly contributes to workplace accidents, affecting employee communication, situational awareness, and the ability to hear safety warnings.

Positively, job-related hearing problems are wholly preventable – starting with practical steps to identify hazards within your workplace. In this article, we explain your noise-related responsibilities, what’s included in a noise risk assessment, and how to protect your people from noise-induced hearing loss.

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What are the legal requirements for workplace noise exposure?

As part of your legal health and safety requirements, you have a duty to pinpoint workplace noise risks and implement measures to mitigate them. Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (the Noise Regulations), which sit alongside the broader duty of care set out in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, you’re required to:

• Operate within the legal limits of occupational noise.
• Evaluate noise-related risks across your business.
• Manage the causes of noise exposure, ideally eliminating them at source.
• Provide adequate hearing protection for employees.
• Train staff to protect themselves from workplace noise hazards.
• Implement health surveillance to track early symptoms of hearing damage.

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Signs your workplace may need a noise risk assessment

Before any structured noise audit, it’s helpful to take a high-level look at potential NIHL concerns within your workplace. An initial review of processes, conditions, and work patterns provides helpful insights for the competent person or health and safety consultant carrying out your assessment.

Consider red flags like noise complaints from staff or neighbours, declining employee hearing test results, or the introduction of louder equipment. Also note whether your team do any of the following:

• Regularly work around intrusive ambient noise, such as engine sounds, air conditioning and heating units, or amplified music.
• Use machinery or power tools for more than 30 minutes each day.
• Need to raise their voices to be heard when standing about two metres apart.
• Are often exposed to loud impact noises, such as drilling, hammering, or detonations.
• Have muffled hearing after work, even if it’s back to normal the next day.

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How do you carry out an effective noise risk assessment?

A workplace noise survey should be carried out by a qualified health and safety consultant or a trained competent person using suitable, calibrated equipment such as sound level meters. Your assessment will be tailored to your specific working environment, but key steps will include:

• Measuring and logging sounds in designated working areas to gauge peak noise exposure.
• Assessing acoustics in line with the Noise at Work Regulations (2005). This ensures you’re operating within approved limits (see more details below).
• Checking who’s affected by your workplace noise – identifying which staff and roles are particularly at risk.
• Introducing practical controls, such as modifying equipment, altering working patterns, and adding signage and alerts to raise awareness.
• Recommending employee hearing protection if engineering and admin controls can’t sufficiently mitigate noise risks.

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Action values and limit values: Understanding noise levels

Your noise risk assessment will refer to action values and limit values. Set out by the Noise Regulations, these boundaries define when controls are needed and when exposure exceeds legal limits.

Action values: Time for early intervention

Action values indicate when to implement prevention measures, based on staff noise exposure averaged over a working day or week, plus instantaneous peak sound pressure (sudden loud impacts, not the daily average).

• Lower exposure action values are daily or weekly exposure of 80 dB(A) and peak sound pressure of 135 dB(C). At this point, you should provide NIHL information and training, and make hearing protection available on request.
• Upper exposure action values are daily or weekly exposure of 85 dB(A) and peak sound pressure of 137 dB(C). At this point, you should continue all the actions above, implement noise control measures, designate hearing protection zones where wearing protection is mandatory, and introduce health surveillance.

Limit values: Your legal noise threshold

Your staff should never be exposed to noise above a limit value. Exceeding this noise level is a regulatory violation, which can lead to financial penalties and prosecution.

• Daily personal noise exposure is 87 dB(A), including hearing protection. At this point, you should take immediate action to reduce exposure below this level and use noise control measures in addition to hearing protection.
• Peak sound pressure is 140 dB(C). You have a legal duty to prevent exposure above this level.

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Targeted solutions: How to reduce workplace noise levels

Your noise risk assessment will highlight areas of concern, helping you prioritise and reduce the risks through a targeted noise compliance programme.

Your health and safety consultant is likely to recommend a combination of:

• Engineering and administrative controls. These solutions tackle the root cause of noise issues through options like quieter equipment, silencers, and sound insulation. Controls might also include job rotations or modified shift patterns to minimise prolonged exposure.
• Staff training and information. HSE’s September 2025 inspection campaign found 63% of workers had received no guidance on continuously wearing protection during harmful noise exposure, 80% had no instruction on proper wearing technique, and 95% of employers hadn’t checked whether workers could still hear warning signals while wearing protection. Sector-specific training builds accountability and awareness, helping staff protect themselves against noise risks.
• Health surveillance. Audiometric testing tracks workers’ hearing over time to detect early NIHL symptoms and check your controls are working. HSE’s guidance is annual testing for the first two years of exposure, then every three years – more often if a problem is detected or the risk is high.
• Hearing protection. Only to be used when other controls can’t reduce noise levels to acceptable standards, popular PPE options include earplugs, earmuffs, and canal caps. Regularly inspect equipment for signs of damage and improper fit, and train your team on when and how to use it. Our guide on choosing the proper protection for your team walks through how to match the right PPE to the noise profile of each role.

The right combination of these controls keeps people safe and healthy at work over the long term, while keeping you on the right side of the Noise Regulations.

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Frequently asked questions

What is a workplace noise risk assessment?

A workplace noise risk assessment is a structured evaluation of how loud your working environment is, which employees are exposed, and what changes are needed to bring exposure within legal limits. It’s carried out by a competent person using calibrated sound level meters and forms the basis for your noise control programme.

When is a noise risk assessment legally required?

Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, you must carry out a noise risk assessment whenever employees are likely to be exposed at or above the lower exposure action value of 80 dB(A). In practice, that means most construction, manufacturing, transport, and farming operations need one.

How often should I review my noise risk assessment?

There’s no fixed regulatory cadence. The Noise Regulations require you to review whenever there’s reason to suspect it’s no longer valid – new equipment, a new process, a change in shift patterns, or signs of hearing damage in your workforce – or where there’s been a significant change in the work itself. Many employers re-check every couple of years as a sensible interval, but the trigger is change, not the calendar.

Who can carry out a workplace noise survey?

A noise survey must be carried out by a competent person – someone with the training, experience, and equipment to measure noise accurately and interpret the results. That’s usually a qualified health and safety consultant or an in-house specialist with appropriate accreditation.

What is the legal noise limit at work in the UK?

The legal daily personal noise exposure limit is 87 dB(A), measured with hearing protection taken into account. Peak sound pressure must never exceed 140 dB(C). Below that, two action values trigger employer duties earlier: at 80 dB(A) you must provide information, training, and make hearing protection available on request; at 85 dB(A) you must implement noise control measures, designate hearing protection zones where wearing it is mandatory, and start health surveillance.

What’s the difference between dB(A) and dB(C)?

dB(A) is weighted to reflect how the human ear perceives sound across a typical day’s exposure – it’s used for average noise levels. dB(C) captures peak sound pressure, including sudden loud impacts like hammering or detonations that would otherwise be smoothed out by an A-weighted reading.

How can I reduce noise levels at work?

Start with engineering controls – quieter equipment, silencers, and sound insulation tackle the problem at source. Add administrative controls (rotations, shift changes), then training and health surveillance. Hearing protection should be the last line of defence, not the first.

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Download our free workplace noise guide

Opus provides tailored noise risk assessments and flexible audiometric screenings that work around your business – either onsite, in our mobile screening units, or at our head office.

To learn more about cost-effective NIHL prevention, read our guide on choosing the proper protection for your team.

Prefer to speak to an expert? Chat with an experienced Occupational Health Technician on 0330 043 4015 or email hello@opus-safety.co.uk.

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