Noise and vibration – Assess
Assess the risk
Employers have a legal duty to assess and manage risks from noise and vibration at work. A risk assessment will help you identify who is at risk and what controls are needed to reduce exposure.
Workers may be at risk if they regularly use noisy or vibrating tools, equipment or machinery.
Noise risks
Workers may be exposed to harmful levels of noise from:
- loud tools and machinery
- impact or explosive noises
- high-noise work environments, particularly where workers rely on hearing speech, alarms or moving vehicles
Vibration risks
Workers may be exposed to harmful vibration through:
- breakers, grinders, sanders and chainsaws
- other vibrating handheld, hand-fed or hand-guided tools
- driving or operating heavy machinery
Complete your assessment
Your assessment should identify who may be exposed, what equipment, tools or machinery they use, how often they use it, and how long they're exposed for each time.
The findings from your assessment will help you identify, prioritise and implement controls to reduce exposure and protect workers' health.
Some tools, such as nail guns and staplers, produce vibration in very short bursts. Make sure exposure time reflects how the vibration magnitude was measured.
Guidance on assessing intermittent tools
What to do next
Use the findings from your assessment to identify, prioritise and implement controls that eliminate or reduce exposure so far as is reasonably practicable.
Your risk assessment should help you identify:
- which activities create the greatest levels of exposure
- which workers are most at risk
- where controls are needed most urgently
- whether your existing controls are effective
Taking action early can help prevent serious and permanent ill health, including hearing loss, tinnitus and hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS).