Noise at Work: What the Regulations Require Employers to Tell and Train Workers

Most noise compliance guides for employers focus on measuring exposure and fitting hearing protection. What they cover less thoroughly is what the regulations actually require you to tell workers — and how that obligation sits separately from providing PPE or implementing controls.

Regulation 10 of the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 sets a specific information, instruction, and training duty. It applies whenever employees are exposed to noise at or above the lower exposure action value — 80 dB(A) daily or weekly average, or 135 dB(C) peak. This guide sets out what that duty requires in practice.

This guide covers employer obligations under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. It is not legal advice; seek professional guidance where your specific situation requires it.

What Regulation 10 requires

Regulation 10 requires employers to provide "suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training" to any employee exposed at or above the lower exposure action value. The regulation specifies nine categories of information the training must cover:

1. The nature of the risk — employees must understand that noise at the levels they're exposed to can cause hearing damage, including permanent hearing loss and tinnitus.

2. The control measures in place — what organisational and technical steps the employer has taken under Regulation 6 to reduce exposure: engineering controls, enclosures, work-rotation schemes, substituted equipment, and so on.

3. The exposure action and limit values — the 80, 85, and 87 dB(A) thresholds and their 135, 137, 140 dB(C) peak equivalents, and what they mean for the employee's specific work. See UK Workplace Noise Exposure Limits for a plain-English explanation of what changes at each level.

4. The findings of the risk assessment — the significant conclusions from the noise assessment that applies to the employee's role or work area, including any measurements taken. Employees should understand what the assessment found about their exposure, not just that an assessment was done.

5. Hearing protection — availability and use — where protection is available, which types are appropriate for the noise levels involved, and how to fit, maintain, and store it correctly. Poorly fitted hearing protection can reduce protection by more than half; training on fitting matters.

6. How to detect and report hearing damage — symptoms like muffled hearing after a shift, ringing in the ears (tinnitus), or difficulty following conversation. Employees should know who to report concerns to and that early reporting matters for both them and the employer.

7. Entitlement to health surveillance — if the employer is required to provide audiometry under Regulation 9, employees must know they are entitled to it and understand its purpose. See Workplace Audiometry for what that programme looks like.

8. Safe working practices to minimise exposure — this includes using controls as intended, wearing hearing protection in designated zones, not removing PPE during noisy tasks, and reporting defective controls or protection.

9. Anonymised health surveillance results — where Regulation 9 health surveillance is running, employees collectively have the right to see the aggregate results (individual results are confidential).

When training must happen

The regulation does not specify a fixed interval like "annually". The requirement is that training is "updated to take account of significant changes in the type of work carried out or the working methods used by the employer." The practical points to train are:

• On induction, before an employee begins work that exposes them above the lower action value
• When significant changes occur — new equipment, changed work patterns, new noise zones, updated risk assessment findings
• When health surveillance identifies early deterioration — this may trigger a review of the employee's specific exposure and an update to training content

Beyond those triggers, most employers treat annual or biennial refresher training as sufficient to demonstrate an ongoing information programme. The key is that training reflects the current risk assessment findings and current controls — not a generic "here's what noise does to your hearing" module that doesn't reference the employer's actual assessment.

Contractors and non-employees

Regulation 10(4) extends the duty beyond the employer's own staff: it requires the employer to ensure that "any person, whether or not his employee, who carries out work in connection with the employer's duties under these Regulations" has suitable and sufficient information, instruction and training. In practice this means that where you have contractors, agency workers, or on-site sub-contractors exposed to your workplace noise at or above the relevant action value, you cannot assume the obligation stops at your direct employees — the information and training duty reaches them too.

What training does not replace

Training and information are not a substitute for controlling exposure. The regulatory hierarchy under Regulation 6 puts engineering controls and work organisation first; hearing protection and training come after. Providing information about a noise risk you have not attempted to reduce is not compliance.

The information duty also does not replace health surveillance where that is required (Regulation 9), nor does it replace the written risk assessment record required by Regulation 5. Training sits alongside those obligations, not in place of them.

What to record

The regulations do not specify a mandatory training record format. Practically, you need to be able to show that training happened, what it covered, and who received it — both for your own compliance purposes and in case an inspector, insurer, or court asks. A simple record noting each employee's name, date, topics covered, and how content relates to their specific risk assessment is sufficient.

For the noise risk assessment that underpins the training content, try the free Noise Risk Assessment Starter Template to record findings in a format you can refer to when briefing workers.

Sources

• Regulation 10: Information, instruction and training — Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (legislation.gov.uk)
• Regulation 4: Exposure limit values and action values — Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
• Noise at work: employers' responsibilities — HSE
• L108: Controlling Noise at Work (approved code of practice, 3rd edition 2021) — HSE
• INDG362: Noise at work — a brief guide to controlling the risks — HSE

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This post explains employer duties under UK noise regulations. The regulatory requirements are those set out in the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1643). NoiseProof tools support the assessment and record-keeping side of compliance; they do not constitute legal advice or replace a competent assessor where one is needed.