Under the Queensland Work Health and Safety Regulation an employer must keep workers' exposure below the noise exposure standard, and must provide audiometric testing to workers who frequently rely on hearing protection. We measure what workers are actually exposed to, report it against the standard, screen hearing, and design the noise control that brings exposure down at the source.
When workers may be exposed above the standard — around compressors, saws, grinders, presses, impact tools, generators or plant rooms — or when people have to raise their voice to be heard at arm's length; when workers frequently wear hearing protection and are due for audiometric testing; and when a noisy process needs to be made quieter.
Under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, the exposure standard is an eight-hour equivalent of 85 dB(A) and a peak of 140 dB(C). Exceeding either is a breach, and the peak limit is routinely exceeded by impact tools and compressed air even where the average looks acceptable.
Workers who frequently use hearing protection must have audiometric testing within three months of starting and at least every two years after. Assessment, noise control, protector selection and audiometry follow AS/NZS 1269.1, 1269.2, 1269.3 and 1269.4.
A noise exposure report identifying which roles exceed the standard, which plant and work practices drive the exposure, and the control options ranked by the reduction each delivers.
Audiometric screening results for each worker, compared against their reference audiogram so a shift in hearing is picked up early.
Where noise control is needed, a specification for the treatment — enclosures, silencers, damping, isolation, barriers or absorption — sized to a target reduction rather than a general intention.
An exposure assessment needs a representative shift on site, with dosimeters worn through the working day alongside measurements at individual machines. Audiometric screening is scheduled around shifts so that workers are tested before their first noise exposure of the day.
A fixed fee per site, quoted from the number of roles and work areas, with audiometry priced per worker.
If anyone may be exposed above the standard, yes. The duty is to assess and control exposure, and noise-induced hearing loss develops long before anyone notices it.
That is the aim. The regulation requires noise to be controlled at the source so far as is reasonably practicable before relying on hearing protection, so the report ranks the engineering options first.
Noise exposure causes a temporary shift in hearing that recovers over hours. Testing after a noisy shift can mask the permanent change the screening is meant to find.