New regulations aimed at protecting employees from the harmful effects of noise have come into force today.
Aimed at around 1 million workers who are exposed to damaging workplace noise levels, the legislation lowers the noise level at which protective action must be taken.
Under the new rules, the levels at which hearing protection must been made available has been lowered from 85db to 80 db, while the level at which protection must be worn has also been decreased by 5db to 85db.
The rules apply to all industries expect music and entertainment businesses which have until April 2008 to comply.
Brian Lamb, Director of Communications at RNID, said: "Prolonged exposure to loud noise can cause permanent hearing loss and employers have a legal duty to cut down noise and protect their employees from the harmful effects of noise at work.
"Noise induced hearing loss is often cumulative and not immediately obvious, so its threat is seldom recognised or taken seriously. Whilst the effects of noise are irreversible, noise induced hearing loss is totally preventable."
The Health and Safety Executive says the simple rules of thumb that may indicate firms have a loud noise problem are:
You're surrounded by intrusive noise for most of the working day
You have to raise your voice to be heard by someone just 2 metres away, for at least part of the day
You use noisy powered tools or machinery for more than 30 minutes a day
You work in a noisy industry such as construction, road repair, engineering or manufacturing
Your work causes impacts such as hammering, drop forging, pneumatic impact tools, etc.
You work with explosive sources such as cartridge-operated tools, detonators, or guns