Hazards and control measures
Noise hazards and control measures
The noise hazards on site and in plant rooms, who loses their hearing and how, the 80, 85 and 87 dB(A) values in the Control of Noise at Work Regulations, and the control measures HSE expects before hearing protection. With a worked example from a completed RAMS.
What are the main noise hazards at work?
The main noise hazard is hearing loss from loud work over time, such as breakers, saws, grinders, drills and hammering, made worse in hard rooms that reflect the sound. The damage is permanent and can come with tinnitus, a constant ringing in the ears. The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 set action values at 80 and 85 dB(A) and a limit of 87 dB(A), and expect you to reduce the noise at source before relying on hearing protection.
Last updated . Facts checked by the SiteSurvey team on 24 October 2026 against The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, HSE: Hearing loss caused by work is preventable, HSE: Hearing protection and HSE: Occupational deafness statistics.
Where noise shows up
Noise is a hazard wherever the work is loud for a long part of the day or produces sharp impacts. A groundworker on a breaker, a fitter cutting pipe with a grinder in a basement plant room, an installer drilling hundreds of anchor holes in a concrete slab and a carpenter on a chop saw are all exposed, and so is everyone working near them. The room matters as much as the tool. Concrete, blockwork and steel cladding reflect sound, so the same grinder is louder in a low plant room than in an open yard.
The hazard builds up with the level and the time. The regulations measure it as a daily or weekly personal exposure in dB(A), averaged across the working day, and as a peak sound pressure in dB(C) for the single loud bangs from hammering, nail guns or cartridge tools. Level and time both count: HSE names them as the two factors behind hearing damage.
Who is harmed, and how
HSE's statistics estimate that 15,000 workers in Great Britain had work-related hearing problems each year on average over 2022/23 to 2024/25. Hearing loss caused by work is preventable, but once the hearing has gone it will not come back. Some people are left with tinnitus, a permanent ringing in the ears, as well as the loss.
The people harmed are the operators of loud tools, the trades working beside them and anyone who has to walk through the area. In an occupied building the noise also reaches people who are not part of the work at all, which is why the worked example on this page holds back the grinding until the clinics above the plant room have closed.
What the law expects
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 start with getting rid of the noise at source, and where that is not reasonably practicable, reducing it as far as is reasonably practicable. At the lower exposure action values of 80 dB(A) or 135 dB(C) peak, assess the risk, give information and training, and make hearing protection available to anyone who asks. At the upper values of 85 dB(A) or 137 dB(C), run a programme of technical and organisational measures that does not count hearing protection: another method, quieter equipment, enclosures, damping and distance, maintenance, and less time in the noise with proper rest breaks.
Only then does hearing protection come in. Above the upper value it must be provided and worn, and the area is marked as a hearing protection zone with signs. No one may be exposed above the limit of 87 dB(A) or 140 dB(C), which, unlike the action values, takes account of the protection worn. Health surveillance, including hearing tests, is required where the assessment shows a risk. In SiteSurvey, the RAMS template records the noisy tasks and who is near them, and the Suggested controls list puts the quieter method first and warns when only ear defenders are ticked.
Suggested controls
Noise: control measures, most effective first
These are the 4 controls the SiteSurvey RAMS and risk assessment forms offer for this hazard as a tick list, grouped by their level in the hierarchy of controls. They are a starting point from HSE guidance, not an assessment of your job: tick what applies and say how it works on your site. If only personal protective equipment is ticked, the form says so. How suggested controls work and the hierarchy of controls explained.
Swap the hazard for something less harmful: a quieter tool, a cold-applied method, a smaller pack.
- Quieter method or equipment used where there is one
Keep people away from the hazard with a physical measure: a guardrail, a barrier, extraction, isolation.
- Noise kept at source with enclosures, damping or distance
Change the way the work is done: a permit, a check, training, supervision, timing.
- Noisy work scheduled away from other people
Protect the person as the last line: a harness, hard hat, gloves or respirator. Never the only control.
- Hearing protection zones marked and protection worn inside them
Offered to: every type of work in the RAMS form.
Try it
Build the controls for noise
Tick the controls you would put in place, see which levels of the hierarchy they reach, and score the risk before and after. Or fill in the example from a completed RAMS to see how one crew did it.
Interactive
Try it: noise
Works the same way as the RAMS form. Nothing you tick is saved or sent anywhere.
Your controls, by level
- Eliminateno control at this level for this hazard
- Substitutenot ticked
- Engineeringnot ticked
- Adminnot ticked
- PPEnot ticked
Nothing ticked yet.
3. Score the risk with these controls
What the law says
- Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
- Assess the noise, eliminate or reduce it at source, act at the 80 and 85 dB(A) action values, never exceed 87 dB(A), provide hearing protection and zones, and carry out health surveillance where there is a risk.
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, regulation 3
- The suitable and sufficient risk assessment that identifies the noisy tasks, who is exposed and the controls.
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
- Work equipment is suitable for the job and maintained in good order, which includes choosing and servicing quieter tools.
Worked example
Noise in a completed RAMS
The hazard entry exactly as it was recorded in one of our completed example RAMS: the controls ticked from the list, how they apply on that job, and the score before and after the further action.
Electrical and M&E
Wheatstone Outpatients Building: plant room heating pipework repair
- Hazard
- Noise: Grinding and cutting in a concrete and blockwork room with a low ceiling
- What could happen, and to whom
- Grinder and reciprocating saw noise over 100 dB(A) in a hard-surfaced room, hearing damage to the crew and disturbance to the clinics on the ground floor directly above. The crew and the building occupants.
- Controls ticked
- Quieter method or equipment used where there is one
- Noisy work scheduled away from other people
- Noise kept at source with enclosures, damping or distance
- Hearing protection zones marked and protection worn inside them
- How they apply on this job
- The corroded sections are cut out with a reciprocating saw and a cold pipe cutter rather than a cutting disc, so the grinder is only used to bevel the ends and dress the welds. Grinding is not done before 13:00 on the Saturday while the clinics are open, and the clinic manager has the plant room phone number for the afternoon. The plant room is a hearing protection zone for the whole job with a sign on the door; everyone wears ear defenders (SNR 30) while the saw or grinder runs, and estates staff who come in are handed a pair. Grinding is done in runs of no more than 10 minutes with the door closed.
- Risk with these controls (likelihood x severity)
- 3 x 2 = 6 (Medium)
- Further action
- Clinic manager confirmed the Saturday closing time with A. Pritchard; the time is written on the permit. Owner: A. Pritchard.
- Residual risk
- 1 x 2 = 2 (Low)
A fictional job, filled in as a worked example. The form and the report are real.
It also appears in foundations and drainage for a house extension, dismantling a storm-damaged ash near an 11 kv line and pallet racking in a live warehouse. All eleven completed RAMS.
Noise: common questions
What is the difference between dB(A) and dB(C)?
The dB(A) figure is the daily or weekly personal exposure, averaged over the time a person is in the noise. The dB(C) figure is the peak sound pressure, the loudest single instant, which matters for impacts like hammering or cartridge tools. The regulations set action values and limits for both, and you act on whichever is reached first.
Can hearing protection be the main control?
No. The regulations require a programme of technical and organisational measures at the upper action value, and hearing protection does not count towards it. HSE says it should not be used as an alternative to controlling the noise, only as extra protection or as a short-term measure while other controls are put in place. The tick list warns when ear defenders are the only control ticked.
What is a hearing protection zone?
It is an area where people are likely to be exposed at or above the upper action value of 85 dB(A) or 137 dB(C). The employer marks it with the ear protection sign, restricts access where practicable, and makes sure no one goes in without hearing protection. A plant room or a cutting station is often marked as a zone for the whole job.
Does the exposure limit include hearing protection?
Yes, but only the limit. When checking the exposure limit values of 87 dB(A) and 140 dB(C), the protection the employer provides is taken into account. The action values at 80 and 85 dB(A) are measured without it, so a crew wearing ear defenders can still be above them and the duties to reduce the noise still apply.
Last updated . See every hazard in the library.
Write the RAMS with these controls already listed.
Pick the hazard, tick its controls, score it and brief the crew, on a phone or laptop. The report goes to the client as one PDF.