Do your staff wear headsets?

If any of your staff wear telephone or communications headsets (call-centres, radio-comms, in-ear monitors), then this post will be of interest. If they don’t, then you probaly needn’t read any further!


The control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 apply to anyone in the workplace, no matter how practical or not it is to assess the risk to that employee. For organisations who employ people wearing communications headsets or in-ear monitors, this has been a problem for some time. General noise levels and exposure in the workplace is relatively simple to measure and therefore assess for risk, but where the noise is introduced directly to the ear, it is a different matter and normal sound measuring devices simply don’t measure up! The traditional method involves cumbersome and expensive equipment, which requires a consultant to operate it. The process does not measure on the actual operator, but on a ‘dummy-head’ sat next to the operator, which monitors the same sounds as the worker, but in parallel and using a ‘standard’ ear!

There is now a really clever new product for assessing the noise exposure or 'acoustic shock' of people wearing headsets, be it in a call-centre or out and about. This is a real-time system that is completely non-invasive and can be used on an on-going basis to monitor levels for the Noise at Work Regulations 2005. The simplicity of the system comes from its ability to use the actual headset being worn by the operator, whilst in-use on real calls! All you need is the H2 monitor unit (about the size of a paper-back book), some software and a cable or two!

There is a small drawback and that is that the system needs to know some information about the headsets in use; this data is found by measuring the model of headset in use in a test-laboratory and loading this information into the software. It is possible that the data already exists from previous tests, but if not, it is simple enough to do. In essence, It has never been this easy or cost-effective to monitor levels for staff in call-centres or those using headsets in any area of the business. Complying with the regulations from this point forward is simply a case of carrying out the normal risk assessment using the numbers straight from the software. This puts you back in charge of the process and provides all the information to get on with the task of stopping people going deaf!

If you would like to read more about the H2 headset monitor, then here is a link to our web-site. If you would like us to come and talk to you about it, then please feel free to call us on 01723 584250, or email me on simon@castlegroup.co.uk.
 
You can see a detailed overview of the H2 headset monitor by following this link. www.castlegroup.co.uk/sound-level-meters/h2-headset-monitor/detailed-product-flyer.html