Guide

Workplace noise: what Australian employers have to do

Under the model work health and safety (WHS) laws, the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) carries the noise duties. They come down to one limit, an order for controlling noise, and what follows once hearing protection is part of the job.

The exposure standard

The WHS Regulations (Part 4.1, regulations 56 to 58) set the exposure standard for noise as either of:

  • LAeq,8h of 85 dB(A): the level averaged over an eight-hour day.
  • LC,peak of 140 dB(C): a single peak, such as a sledgehammer or a gunshot. Above it, damage can be almost instant.

You must manage the risk of hearing loss from noise and ensure a worker's exposure does not exceed the standard. Time counts as much as level: every 3 dB increase halves the allowed time, so 88 dB(A) reaches the limit in four hours and 91 dB(A) in two.

The Code also notes the standard protects most people, not all, so noise should be kept below it where reasonably practicable. For shifts of 10 hours or more, it adds an adjustment to the measured figure before comparing it with 85.

The order of controls

You must eliminate the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. Where you can't, you minimise it in this order:

  1. Eliminate the source: stop using the noisy machine, or change the job so the noise isn't made.
  2. Substitute, isolate or engineer: quieter plant, enclosures and barriers, distance, silencers, damping, maintenance.
  3. Administrative controls: scheduling, job rotation, keeping people out of noisy areas.
  4. Personal protective equipment: whatever risk remains.

Administrative controls and PPE rely on people's behaviour, and the Code notes they tend to be the least effective on their own.

When hearing protection comes in

The Code says hearing protectors should be used when other controls can't eliminate or minimise the risk, as a stopgap until those controls are in place, or where extra protection is needed on top of them. Regulation 44 requires PPE to suit the work and the hazard, fit, be reasonably comfortable, and be kept clean and in good order. You must train workers to use, fit and look after it.

Protectors have to be worn for the whole exposure. The Code's example: a protector giving 30 dB over a full day drops to 9 dB if it is off for one hour.

Audiometric testing

Under regulation 58, if a worker is required to frequently wear hearing protectors against noise above the exposure standard, you must provide audiometric testing:

  • within three months of the worker starting that work, to set a baseline;
  • then at least every two years.

The Code adds that testing may need to be more frequent where exposure is 100 dB(A) or more, that workers get their results with a written explanation, and that a shift in hearing means reviewing your controls.

Hearing protector areas

The Code recommends signposting areas with hazardous noise as hearing protector areas, with clear boundaries. Nobody, managers and visitors included, should enter without protection, however short the visit.

Choosing a protector

The Code points to AS/NZS 1269.3 and gives a class for each measured LAeq,8h:

Recommended class of hearing protector. Model Code of Practice, Table 4.
Measured LAeq,8h, dB(A)Class
less than 901
90 to less than 952
95 to less than 1003
100 to less than 1054
105 to less than 1105

It also says not to over-protect. A protector that cuts out too much sound makes it hard to hear instructions and the sounds needed to work safely. Involve workers in the choice and offer a reasonable range of types.

Queensland, Victoria and the rest

The Code is a Safe Work Australia model. It has legal effect only where a state or territory adopts it, so check with your regulator. Queensland has its own Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 and an approved Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work Code of Practice 2021. Victoria has its own Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. They set the same 85 dB(A) and 140 dB(C) standard, and WorkSafe Victoria publishes a separate Noise compliance code.

This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. For your own obligations, check Safe Work Australia and your state or territory regulator.

Sources

Related: Hearing protector classes under AS/NZS 1270. EarGuard sells a Class 2 reusable corded ear plug.