Read the full text: Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 on legislation.gov.uk.
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1643) require employers to assess, control and, where necessary, protect employees against the risk of hearing damage from noise exposure at work. Noise-induced hearing loss is permanent, irreversible, and one of the most common occupational health claims in the UK — and the damage typically builds up gradually over years, which is exactly why the regulations set precise, measurable thresholds rather than leaving exposure to informal judgement.
They are made under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). They apply wherever employees could be exposed to noise at work — from obviously loud environments like construction sites and factories to less obvious ones like busy commercial kitchens, music venues and workshops.
The Exact Exposure Thresholds
Regulation 4 sets three precise levels, each defined for both daily/weekly average exposure (A-weighted) and peak sound pressure from impact noise (C-weighted):
- Lower exposure action values: 80 dB(A) / 135 dB(C) peak. The point at which the duty to make hearing protection available, and to provide information and training, is triggered.
- Upper exposure action values: 85 dB(A) / 137 dB(C) peak. The point at which hearing protection must actually be provided (not just offered), Hearing Protection Zones must be designated, and health surveillance duties are engaged.
- Exposure limit values: 87 dB(A) / 140 dB(C) peak. The absolute ceiling that must never be exceeded, taking into account the protection given by any hearing protectors actually worn. Unlike the action values, hearing protection does count when checking against this limit.
Where daily exposure varies markedly from day to day, an employer can use weekly exposure instead of daily exposure to assess compliance — useful for work that's only intermittently noisy.
Risk Assessment and the Control Hierarchy
Regulation 5 requires an assessment of the risk to employees from noise wherever they're likely to be exposed. Regulation 6 then requires that risk to be eliminated at source or reduced so far as reasonably practicable — and hearing protection is not the first response. Before reaching for ear defenders, employers must consider: alternative work methods that reduce noise exposure; choosing quieter work equipment; engineering controls to reduce noise at source or along its transmission path; limiting the duration and intensity of exposure; appropriate maintenance programmes for equipment and workplaces; and organising work to reduce exposure to noise. Hearing protection is the backstop for whatever risk remains after those measures, not a substitute for taking them.
Hearing Protection Duties
Regulation 7 ties the hearing-protection duty directly to the two action values. At or above 80 dB(A) (the lower action value), the employer must make personal hearing protectors available to any exposed employee who requests them. At or above 85 dB(A) (the upper action value), if noise can't be reduced below that level by other means, the employer must actually provide hearing protection — it's no longer optional for the employee to request it. Any area where exposure is likely to reach the upper action value must be designated a Hearing Protection Zone: demarcated, marked with the standard ear-protection warning sign, access restricted where practicable and justified by the risk, and the employer must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that no one enters without wearing hearing protection. Whatever protectors are provided must be selected to eliminate the risk or reduce it as low as reasonably practicable, and chosen after consulting the employees who'll actually wear them — not just picked off a shelf.
Health Surveillance
Where the risk assessment shows a risk to employee health from noise, Regulation 9 requires those employees to be placed under suitable health surveillance, including hearing tests, with a health record kept for each one. Employees must be given access to their own record on reasonable notice, and the enforcing authority can require copies. If surveillance identifies hearing damage that a doctor considers is likely to be noise-related, the employer must: have a suitably qualified person tell the employee; review the risk assessment; review the control measures taken under Regulations 6, 7 and 8; consider moving the employee to work with no further noise risk; and extend health surveillance to other employees who've had similar exposure, since if one person's hearing has been damaged, others exposed the same way may be at risk too.
Maintenance and Use of Equipment
Regulation 8 requires any equipment provided to comply with the regulations — noise control equipment and personal hearing protectors alike — to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. Employees must use control measures and wear the hearing protection provided in line with their training and instruction, and must report any defect they discover to their employer as soon as practicable.
Penalties for Non-Compliance
The regulations don't set out their own offences — like most HSE-enforced regulations, breaches are prosecuted under Section 33 of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974: a fine and/or up to 6 months' imprisonment on summary conviction, or an unlimited fine and/or imprisonment on indictment in the Crown Court. Noise-induced hearing loss is also one of the most common sources of civil compensation claims against UK employers, precisely because the damage is permanent and the causal link to workplace noise exposure is often well documented through health surveillance records (or their absence).
How This Relates to Risk Assessments
The noise-specific risk assessment under Regulation 5 sits alongside the general risk assessment duty under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Where noise is a genuine hazard — industrial machinery, power tools, music venues, commercial kitchens with extraction equipment — it needs its own specific assessment with actual dB measurements, not just a general mention. Anyrisks can generate the wider workplace risk assessment covering noise as one of several hazards for a given activity, such as a construction risk assessment where power tools and plant are a recurring noise source, but genuinely hazardous, sustained noise exposure needs proper sound level measurement, which typically requires specialist equipment or a competent acoustics assessment.
A Worked Example
A joinery workshop runs several woodworking machines throughout the day. A noise survey finds that operators working directly at the table saw are exposed to around 88 dB(A) over a working day — above the upper action value and close to the exposure limit. The employer first looks at reducing noise at source: better machine maintenance, acoustic enclosures where practicable, and reorganising the workday so no single operator spends the whole shift at the loudest machine. Even with those measures, exposure remains above 85 dB(A), so the area around the saw is designated a Hearing Protection Zone, marked accordingly, and operators are issued hearing protectors rated for the specific noise level measured — selected after asking the operators which style they find comfortable enough to actually wear consistently. Because exposure is above the upper action value, the affected employees are also placed under health surveillance, with hearing tests repeated periodically and records kept for each one.
