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Industrial & Noise Protection

Health surveillance

Providing health surveillance

You must provide health surveillance (hearing checks) for all your employees who are likely to be regularly exposed above the upper exposure action values, or are at risk for any reason, eg they already suffer from hearing loss or are particularly sensitive to damage.

The purpose of health surveillance is to:

  • Warn you when employees might be suffering from early signs of hearing damage;
  • Give you an opportunity to do something to prevent the damage getting worse;
  • Check that control measures are working. Consult your trade union safety representative, or employee representative and the employees concerned before introducing health surveillance. It is important that your employees understand that the aim of health surveillance is to protect their hearing

You will need their understanding and co-operation if health surveillance is to be effective.

What is health surveillance?

Health surveillance for hearing damage usually means:

  • Regular hearing checks in controlled conditions;
  • Telling employees about the results of their hearing checks;
  • Keeping health records;
  • Ensuring employees are examined by a doctor where hearing damage is identified

Ideally, you would start the health surveillance before people are exposed to noise (ie for new starters or those changing jobs), to give a baseline. It can, however, be introduced at any time for employees already exposed to noise. This would be followed by a regular series of checks, usually annually for the first two years of employment and then at three-yearly intervals (although this may need to be more frequent if any problem with hearing is detected or where the risk of hearing damage is high).

The hearing checks need to be carried out by someone who has the appropriate training. The whole health surveillance programme needs to be under the control of an occupational health professional (for example a doctor or a nurse with appropriate training and experience).

You, as the employer, have the responsibility for making sure the health surveillance is carried out properly.

How can I arrange health surveillance?

Larger companies may have access to in-house occupational health services who may be able to carry out the programme. Where there are no facilities in-house you will need to use an external contractor.