Harmful noise levels

Published by:

Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO

2 min read

Dangerous noise levels

Do your employees work in noisy environments for longer periods of time? This may cause hearing damage (in Dutch). This can happen if noise levels are 80 dB(A) or over. To clarify, if you cannot hear a person standing 1 metre away, the environmental noise is probably over 80 dB(A). Professions with the risk of hearing damage are, for example:

wood- and metalworkers
construction workers
truckdrivers

Preventing hearing loss

If there is harmful noise in your company, you should try to reduce it. You can do this by:

using more quiet machines
ensuring your employee is not exposed to noise for longer periods of time
devising quieter production methods
placing machines in noise-cancelling enclosures
getting employees to work in sound-proof cabins.

If this does not suffice or is not possible, you have to provide hearing protection (in Dutch) for your employees. You can find more information about the definitions and provisions you need to take in Section 3. Noise of the Working Conditions Decree.

Hearing protection

If your employees are exposed to noise of over 80 dB(A) daily, you must give them hearing protection. The following rules apply:

Noise levels over 85 dB(A) for 8 hours: your employee has to wear protection. You should indicate where hearing protection is needed in the workplace.
Noise levels of 83 dB(A): your employee can work without protection for 4 hours. There should be no harmful sounds in the remaining 4 hours.
Noise levels over 87 dB(A) with hearing protection: you should immediately reduce the sound.

Action plan and information

You have to draw up an action plan, as a part of your risk assessment and evaluation (RI&E). Do your employees work in places where the sound level is higher than 85 dB(A)? Your action plan must set out ways to reduce risks of harmful noise. You must also inform your employees about the dangers of loud noises.

Hearing tests

Your employees are entitled to have their hearing tested regularly. How often your employee gets tested depends on the daily amount of noise and on the individual employee. The test can be carried out by a health and safety expert or health and safety service. As the employer, you have to pay for the test.