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The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 was enacted in the United Kingdom, in an attempt to standardise levels of safety in the workplace. The premise was to give basic rules that both employers and employees must adhere to in order to comply with the act and therefore minimise the risk of accidents and control environmental conditions that might be detrimental to health. Many additions have been made to the original Health and Safety Act including the regulation of noise at work. Working in noisy environments presents a risk of damaging the hearing of workers across a wide range of industries. This is not just limited to heavy industry, but workers in such diverse occupations as classical orchestras and rock music venues are also at risk. The Noise at Work Regulations 1989 first set the standards for levels of noise that were considered to be acceptable in normal working conditions. The idea of first, second and third action levels was conceived in order to give clear guidelines on what to do if a workplace had excessive noise levels. The Regulations stipulated levels at which certain preventative measures must be adopted by employers and also placed responsibilities on workers to use the measures provided by their employers. Since 1989, these action levels have been reassessed and the Noise at Work Regulations were updated in 2005, setting lower action levels to provide increased protection for both employers and employees. The Regulations contain a "catch 22", for they require employers with workplace noise levels in excess of the specified action levels to conduct a survey, but how are they to know what their noise levels are prior to the survey? Generally, if shouting is required for communication a survey is needed. The Partnership carries out surveys under the Regulations and if excess noise levels are found, identifies cost effective strategies for compliance. Recent examples are:
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