read this in a daily paper that noise levels at certain premiership football stadiums where above levels that could cause damage to the hearing footballers are employees duty of care etc should they provide hearing protection
Noise levels at football stadia
Moderator: Moderators
-
Kasper
- Student
- Posts: 68
- Joined: Thu Nov 02, 2006 7:46 pm
- 17
- Occupation: odd job
- Location: Worldwide
Noise levels at football stadia
Hi All
read this in a daily paper that noise levels at certain premiership football stadiums where above levels that could cause damage to the hearing footballers are employees duty of care etc should they provide hearing protection
read this in a daily paper that noise levels at certain premiership football stadiums where above levels that could cause damage to the hearing footballers are employees duty of care etc should they provide hearing protection
two ears one mouth
Places of 'entertainment' are not covered by the new levels imposed by the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 , they got a two year period of grace due to end on 6th april 2008. That being the case, since football would tend to be classed as entertainment, they would still be covered by the old limits under the Noise at Work Regulations 1989. Thats 85db(A) for the first action level and 90db(A) for the second with a peak level limit of 200 Pascals.
At the first level they would have to provide hearing protectors if asked for.
At the second level the employer should, so far as is reasonably practicable, take steps to reduce the noise other than by using personal hearing protection. I don't think it is reasonably practicable to quiten a football crowd. If that is not reasonably practicable the employer has to provide hearing protection if that is practicable (NOTE no reasonable).
But the levels are daily levels averaged over a week. Could it be that since people are only there about 2 hours then it is only the peak level that needs to be considered?
At the first level they would have to provide hearing protectors if asked for.
At the second level the employer should, so far as is reasonably practicable, take steps to reduce the noise other than by using personal hearing protection. I don't think it is reasonably practicable to quiten a football crowd. If that is not reasonably practicable the employer has to provide hearing protection if that is practicable (NOTE no reasonable).
But the levels are daily levels averaged over a week. Could it be that since people are only there about 2 hours then it is only the peak level that needs to be considered?
There are Noise at work regulations. Football stadia are places of work, not only for the footballers themselves but for match officials, marshalls, TV crews, etc etc, and there is no exemption in the regulations for football stadia therefore I believe that the regulations apply.
However I don't think that the regs would have any effect given the short periods of exposure to noise. Even during the two hours that fans are there the peak levels would be intermittent and I doubt very much that they would go over the 200 Pascal limit. Wikipedia suggests that the threshold of pain is at 100 pascals (134db) and 200 pascals is the equivelant of a rifle being fired at 1 metre (140db).
According to this article the highest noise level guiness have recorded in a stadium is 128db courtesy of Denver Bronco's fans but Cardiff council measured a 130.7db roar during the 2005 Carling cup final (A sign that EHO's are monitoring the situation perhaps?) Close but, since the db scale is logarithmic, seemingly quite a way off the 200 Pascal peak limit. The average throughout the game was 93.5db for Liverpool fans and 92.2db for the Chelsea fans. Admittedly higher than the second action level for the duration of the game but not when averaged over 8 hours.
Having not seen the original article I suspect that some bored hack, looking for cash to see him/her over the festive period, has looked at the second action level (90db) and found some reference to either peak or average levels produced by a football crowd and built a story around it not realising that the second action level refers to an average level over a comparatively long period of time.. We all know that stories having a dig at H&S sell well.
As an antidote heres a story from the BBCthat covers research which showed a good cough was 'comparable with a football crowd roar'. It didn't mention which crowd though ... answers on a postcard.
PS ... Another story that was certainly picked up on by the media pre-Christmas was that of a Deafness Research UK study which found that 14 out of 15 toys they tested could cause hearing loss. (See the Times slant on this story here) The research is correct and for the majority of toys, if little johnny sticks the toy in his ear and plays with it for hours on end then they may indeed cause hearing loss. The worrying thing about the research (apart from the fact that the doctor carrying out the research doesn't appear to have used hearing protection) was that some toy guns actually reached 143db in the tests at 2.5cm from the microphone.
However I don't think that the regs would have any effect given the short periods of exposure to noise. Even during the two hours that fans are there the peak levels would be intermittent and I doubt very much that they would go over the 200 Pascal limit. Wikipedia suggests that the threshold of pain is at 100 pascals (134db) and 200 pascals is the equivelant of a rifle being fired at 1 metre (140db).
According to this article the highest noise level guiness have recorded in a stadium is 128db courtesy of Denver Bronco's fans but Cardiff council measured a 130.7db roar during the 2005 Carling cup final (A sign that EHO's are monitoring the situation perhaps?) Close but, since the db scale is logarithmic, seemingly quite a way off the 200 Pascal peak limit. The average throughout the game was 93.5db for Liverpool fans and 92.2db for the Chelsea fans. Admittedly higher than the second action level for the duration of the game but not when averaged over 8 hours.
Having not seen the original article I suspect that some bored hack, looking for cash to see him/her over the festive period, has looked at the second action level (90db) and found some reference to either peak or average levels produced by a football crowd and built a story around it not realising that the second action level refers to an average level over a comparatively long period of time.. We all know that stories having a dig at H&S sell well.
As an antidote heres a story from the BBCthat covers research which showed a good cough was 'comparable with a football crowd roar'. It didn't mention which crowd though ... answers on a postcard.
PS ... Another story that was certainly picked up on by the media pre-Christmas was that of a Deafness Research UK study which found that 14 out of 15 toys they tested could cause hearing loss. (See the Times slant on this story here) The research is correct and for the majority of toys, if little johnny sticks the toy in his ear and plays with it for hours on end then they may indeed cause hearing loss. The worrying thing about the research (apart from the fact that the doctor carrying out the research doesn't appear to have used hearing protection) was that some toy guns actually reached 143db in the tests at 2.5cm from the microphone.
The debate is arriving on the internet terraces
http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31992
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... ndia05.xml
Could be a nice little earner for an ear defender manufacturer,produced in team colours with logo, european teams, national teams, pink,cats(sorry Penfold but they do sell)
kids have got them in trendy colours
http://www.peltorkid.co.uk/
http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31992
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.j ... ndia05.xml
Could be a nice little earner for an ear defender manufacturer,produced in team colours with logo, european teams, national teams, pink,cats(sorry Penfold but they do sell)
kids have got them in trendy colours
http://www.peltorkid.co.uk/
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ° http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/amibeing.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"He is most free from danger, who, even when safe, is on his guard."- Publilius Syrus - Roman writer and poet.
"He is most free from danger, who, even when safe, is on his guard."- Publilius Syrus - Roman writer and poet.
-
Alexis
- Official HSfB Legend
- Posts: 48914
- Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2004 10:52 am
- 20
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/AlexisHSfB
- Location: West Lothian
- Has thanked: 2929 times
- Been thanked: 344 times
- Contact:
I know this is diversifying from the original topic of football crowds, but I am always concerned about the level of noise within HMV stores. They have speakers right behind counter staff who stand there for hours.
"A candle loses none of its light by lighting another candle."
Hundreds of FREE Health & Safety Downloads Here
Hundreds of FREE Health & Safety Downloads Here
-
busbybelle
- Snr Member
- Posts: 327
- Joined: Mon May 01, 2006 7:51 pm
- 18
- Twitter: @MichelleSHEQ
- Industry Sector: Chemical (gases)
- Occupation: SHEQ Manager
- Location: Walsall, West Midlands
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ° http://www.bullyonline.org/workbully/amibeing.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"He is most free from danger, who, even when safe, is on his guard."- Publilius Syrus - Roman writer and poet.
"He is most free from danger, who, even when safe, is on his guard."- Publilius Syrus - Roman writer and poet.
-
dave247
- Dangerous Dave
- Posts: 5354
- Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 12:07 pm
- 18
- Industry Sector: Waste
- Occupation: Health and Safety Manager
- Location: Staffordshire
- Been thanked: 2 times
busbybelle, dont want to get into footie debate on health and safety section but far from a whipping and the noise that came from the villa fans would of broke the noise regs 
Put your reply on a PM 
Put your reply on a PM For brilliance and, at the same time, for consistency of achievement, for activity in philanthropic enterprise, for astuteness of management and for general alertness, the superiors of Aston Villa cannot be found
