Whether we like it or not, Health and safety is an integral part of any business. Firstly, it exists to protect the wellbeing of workers, customers and visitors. Secondly, complying with the HSE regulations makes good business sense too: it lowers costs, reduces the chances of a court case or adverse publicity, and lessens the likelihood of reduced profitability. In the case of industrial noise, it is vital to ensure that your business is complying with the noise regulations. Measuring and controlling noise in the workplace will ensure that you dont fail a health and safety inspection or collect a non-compliance.
In a manufacturing environment where roles and locations change often, employees can be exposed to variable noise. As such, it can be difficult to identify which areas, processes or machinery are potentially harmful to a workers hearing. Self-contained, wearable and completely wireless, noise dosemeters make this task much more manageable.
A noise dosemeter is a lightweight, compact, wearable sound level meter that can be clipped onto a workers uniform, preferably on a shoulder or as near to the ear as possible.Thanks to a highly developed technology, it takes measurements at regular intervals throughout a shift to give a history of an operators noise exposure over time. This can be over a few hours, a day or a week until the manager is satisfied that it has obtained a realistic picture of a typical exposure.
The convenience of the noise dosimeter has earned it a great deal of popularity amongst health and safety, compliance, factory or operations managers and many others. It is unique in that it has no cables, displays or controls, minimising the risk of damage, tampering or misuse and making it a non-intrusive device to wear on the body. A noise dosemeter takes measurements and logs them internally. It then allows the manager to transfer them onto a PC via a simple USB cable for full analysis and reporting.
Employing someone to stand on the factory floor all day to take noise measurements can be costly, disruptive and, physically, not always possible. With a portable noise dosemeter, the manager can simply set and decide the time and what needs measuring in the morning in his office and then attach the noise dosemeter on the worker. The device is then left to do its work for the rest of the shift, and is retrieved at the end of the shift to analyse the results.
If your workforce tends to move around a lot or their tasks or locations vary often, a noise dosemeter will give a more realistic indication of their exposure than would a static sound level meter. This makes it ideal for industries such as manufacturing, construction, utilities, transport, agriculture and the emergency services, to name but a few.Because it gives a clear picture of patterns in exposure, a noise dosemeter will enable you to select appropriate ear protection for any particular task where the legal noise limit might otherwise be exceeded.
Find out more about the two types of noise dosemeters we offer, head over to our website www.pulsarinstruments.com. All Pulsar noise dosemeters can be programmed for full compliance with the Control of Noise at Work Regulations, Industrial Hygiene Standards and Occupational Noise Exposure Guidelines, making it a highly effective tool as part of any hearing safety programmes to monitor workers mid to long term personal noise exposure.