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To help you stop this happening in your work place.

Acoustic Safety Programme
Our advice for 2009 - Hearing conservation impacts on your profits

1. Existing and New Legislation with support from Eversheds LLP
2. Recommended Hearing Conservation Solutions
3. ASP's HEARING CONSERVATION CHAMPION 2008
4. 'Sound Safety II' e-learning '09 - Cost effective Hearing Conservation training
5. National Definitions of Acoustic Shock in Telephone and Headset Users

We would like to raise the bar in 2009 and invite all employers to consider the following issues and suggestions, not only for the benefit of employee hearing conservation, but also to enhance staff performance, well-being and customer satisfaction.

Asp would like to thank Eversheds LLP for contributing the following:

Please click (here) for the (pdf) article by Eversheds LLP addressing the Act and its implication on hearing related injuries in call centres.

There are suggestions from legal and insurance sources that the annual percentage increase in claims is on the rise due to the instability of job security during this economic climate. With over 1 million people employed in UK call centres, the risk of claims for hearing related injuries should not be ignored; neither should the increased cost associated with bogus claims.

ASP's objective is to effect a change of policy and implementation of real and effective solutions at employer level in order to bring about wide-spread improvements in hearing conservation for the benefit of the approximate 4 million people in UK offices and call centres who use telephony equipment as a day-to-day necessity inherent in their jobs.

The wider issue of how important maintaining a high standard of hearing conservation policy and solutions are to your operational success, performance, customer satisfaction and profitability is a more holistic way to look at health and safety policy in our view. Employers who implement effective policy can demonstrate they have met their corporate responsibility toward their staff. But, let's not forget that healthy hearing is a key requirement to carrying out a CSRs job. This year ASP would like to see employers putting the protection of healthy hearing first and as a result they will see that the cost of doing so will be vastly outweighed by the overall benefits brought about both on an employee level and also at customer level.

1^st Step; ensure that you inform and train your staff using the best possible solutions. Cutting, pasting and interpreting the free information we offer on our website is NOT SUFFICIENT.

2^nd Step; carry out a full annual noise assessment, more regularly if the nature of services from a centre are changed, a centre is expanded or reduced in size, and if the number of employees in one centre is reduced or increased. All these changes have an effect on your ambient noise levels.

3^rd Step; ensure that you implement a proper incident reporting and occupational health solution (in-line with RIDDOR requirements) that provides full support for the injured party, specialised clinical monitoring and treatment, as well as diverse and supportive back-to-work programmes.

4^th Step; test your telephony systems and equipment for background noise, noise interference, acoustic incidents (where reported) and the functional suitability and performance of your equipment such as headsets, handsets, mobile and Bluetooth devices. Whatever brand you use, we still recommend binaural headsets for improved background noise reduction and therefore lower comfortable listening volumes.

ASP can provide services to support most of these needs which we invite you to consider by reviewing our employer services section in our website. Please click 'ASP employer services' There are other agencies and organisations that can help in some of the areas of need such as: the HSE, your local Environmental Health and Safety Officer, possibly your existing Health and Safety Consultants and Occupational Health Providers. That said, we suggest that we bring together the best of all these providers by employing the UK's leading occupational and audiology experts, DSP and acoustic engineers, noise at work and measurement experts, environmental and industrial hygienists, and training tool providers. With the added support from Government, Union and Industry groups we believe we provide and endorse the most cost-effective and thorough business support services for hearing conservation in the UK.

Case Studies supporting compliance with applicable legislation for the operation of call centres

2008 case studies of note are: the 11,000 employees who have benefitted from a holistic Hearing Conservation and Well-being review carried out by ASP for a major private sector UK employer and the subsequent implementation of our 'Sound Safety II' e-learning course which was applauded by the staff, senior management and the Union Representatives as a great success. The second success is in the public sector: ASP carried out a full Noise at Work Policy consultation, were retained to provide expert medical advice on hearing injury cases and implemented the 'Sound Safety I' e-learning course in 2008 and the 'Sound Safety II' this year for approximately 400 advisors in a call centre operation. This too has been hailed as a great success by reducing the levels of stress through the increased awareness and processes the course gave them.

Conclusion:

In 2009 we would like to see more employers implement hearing conservation training which has been proven to decrease claims by increasing knowledge both for CSRs as well as Management. This past year we have found an increasing number of employers deciding the right course of action is NOT to train or inform their staff about the hearing risk associated to long-term use of telephones and headsets. The alternative widely adopted has been to get free advice offered by headset suppliers, which must be subject to scrutiny in the case of a claim. The common result of a risk survey carried out by your headset supplier is that your ambient noise levels are within legal limits and the diode in your headset cuts of acoustic incidents at 118dbspl, so you don't need to do anything, particularly look at any other headset technology, obviously. May we repeat for the 6th year running that the symptoms of Acoustic Shock and NIHL can occur under 118dbspl and there is plenty of widely available medical evidence to support this. Hearing related injuries that include physical and psychological symptoms are growing, evidenced by a continual increase in the number of claims and successful compensation payments. The new injury figures for the DWP (click here for report Appendix A), which is publicly available on the web, shows that Acoustic Shock Injuries were at a similar level to other serious health & safety injuries recorded.

For further information please email us at info@acousticsafety.org or write to us at our registered office address which can be found on our 'contact us' page

O2 for their continued commitment to providing excellence in awareness and training on hearing related risks and safety to their call centre staff. Also this accolade goes to O2 for the importance with which they attribute healthy hearing to the impact on the success of both their employees' performance and well-being as well as customer satisfaction. Congratulations go to O2, all the staff involved and in particular Chris Jacobs, Health and Safety Management Systems, Telefonica O2 UK Ltd., for the leadership and vision he showed in championing this achievement.

ASP would also like to recognise the good work many companies have done in achieving their hearing conservation objectives by improving their risk awareness, employee training and reporting processes for hearing related injuries in the last year. Congratulations to one and all, some of whom have been happy to post their logos on our "We care about hearing" campaign page.

"I would like to thank the Acoustic Safety Programme for their Hearing Conservation Champion Award 2008 and on behalf of Telefónica O2 UK Ltd congratulate all my health and safety colleagues and Customer Service Representatives without whom this achievement would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Cheryl Black Customer Service Director for her support and enthusiasm which was an essential factor in addressing noise at work and hearing conservation issues with the importance they deserved. Regardless of our current success in this area of health and safety, O2 will continue to investigate new hearing conservation solutions ensuring that employee health, satisfaction and performance will be continually improved."

Chris Jacobs, Health and Safety Manager, Telefónica O2 UK Ltd

Training staff on occupational hazards is a legal requirement. HSE makes a specific statement on acoustic shock, as follows: "...Operators should be trained to recognise such incidents and how to report them...Organisations that operate call centres should follow this advice and keep up to date with developments in this field..."

For the full HSE statement please click this link
Robert Vaughan, HSE, Noise and Vibration Programme Manager 31st August 2006

'Sound Safety II' tackles general issues concerning the Control of Noise at Work Regulations, Acoustic Incidents, Noise Interference, Malicious Calls, Technology, Hearing Conservation and Personal as well as Corporate Responsibility. The course proposes preventative measures and solutions as well as reporting processes to mitigate risks including: Noise Induced Hearing Loss, Acoustic Shock, Tinnitus, Hyperacusis, Dysacusis, Anxiety and Depression as well as other symptoms.

We were delighted to have received 4 out of 4 Stars for content and presentation from 'Health and Safety at Work Magazine' who particularly complimented us for our use of experts in the relevant fields of knowledge to author the content. You can request a course review pass by emailing info@acousticsafety.org.

We are doing our bit in 2009 to help companies afford our World leading Hearing Health & Safety course during this economic downturn by reducing the cost of a course licence to £3/user (ex vat) for all sizes of company (there may be other charges subject to client requirements). The course and test results can be accessed via ASP's Online Learning Management System or on your existing LMS or a new system which can be purchased from the UK's leading LMS provider, Atlantic Link, our e-learning partners.

We applaud the employers in 2008 who adopted the ASP "Sound Safety II" course as 'standard training policy' for all existing and new call centre and office telephony employees. There were organisations from both the public and private sector. Please see O2's statement of support.

For further information and Document download click here