Noise and Vibration - Shake, rattle and hum
All employers, operators and users of equipment that causes noise and/or vibration need to take very serious notice of the new regulations relating to vibration that come into force on July 6th 2005 and the corresponding noise regulations that must be in place by February 15th 2006
Measuring up to noise
Noise-induced hearing loss can occur to people at low levels of noise. An HSE survey in the 1990s indicated that in excess of two million workers were exposed to noise levels between 80db and more than 142db, averaged over the working day or week. The Noise at Work Regulations in force at the time were introduced in 1989, but it was always viewed that these would move on as industry continued to improve the workplace. In April 2006, the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 came into force, implementing EU Directive Physical Agents (Noise) Directive (2003/10/EC).
Hands-on sensing
A novel vibration dose meter is being developed that can be worn on the hand, in order to measure exposure to damaging hand-arm vibrations from machinery. In its present form, it can advise of excessive risk levels and store information for download at the same time that it is being recharged.
Silence is golden
To avoid effects such as occupational deafness and hand-arm vibration, plants must adopt a best practice approach to noisy environments and processes. Steed Webzell reports
Smooth a path to silence
There shouldn't be any significant problems meeting the requirements of the new noise and vibration regulations, but there are issues which employers need to consider - and they should be wary of figures quoted by some equipment manufacturers. These were the key messages to come out of the SOE seminar entitled 'Noise and Vibration Legislation Uncovered', which was held in Birmingham recently.
Sound measures
Noise and vibration beyond allowable limits can leave managers on shaky ground. No wonder then these issues are climbing plant engineers' priority lists. Steed Webzell reports
Bad vibrations
Now that both the Control of Noise and Control of Vibration at Work Regulations are well and truly in force (April 2006 and July 2005 respectively), plant engineers that haven't yet done so, need to ensure that their areas of responsibility comply.
Belt and braces
Can you recall some of the more extreme reactions from the general public when the idea of compulsory seat belts was first mooted? They ranged from: 'No one can make me put one of those things on' to 'No [expletive deleted] way!' In short, government ?interference' on the very personal matter of whether or not people should have a choice in reducing the likelihood of maiming or killing themselves in a road accident was not to be tolerated.
Comfort zone
Protecting plant employees with state-of-the-art equipment and clothing is both the goal and bane of plant management, as Brian Wall reports
Good vibrations
Now that both noise and vibration are being seen as less acceptable - thanks to legislation limiting exposure (the Control of Noise (April 2006) and Control of Vibration (July 2005) at Work Regulations) - technology is emerging not only to protect operators better, but increasingly also to help engineers determine and, where possible, design out or at least tackle the causes.