Noise at work – it‘s a pig!

Life out in the country isn’t always as quiet as you might expect, at least according to the latest advice from the Health and Safety Executive, who have released a new leaflet ‘Farmwise – Your Essential Guide to Health and Safety in Agriculture’.  This new leaflet, aimed at farmers and people who work with livestock, highlights the risks from animal noise that can lead to hearing damage.

The new leaflet advises farmers and their employees to use hearing protection when entering enclosed spaces housing large numbers of animals, such as pigs and chickens.  According to the leaflet, at feeding time pigs can create noise levels of 100 decibels of more.  It goes on to say: “Where exposures reach 85dB or higher, mark these areas as ‘hearing protection zones’, with signs to indicate that hearing protection must be worn and make sure everyone entering these zones wears hearing protection and get operators in noisy areas to wear hearing protection, and tell them about the risks to their hearing.”

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) scientists have calculated that more than one in five farm workers are being exposed to noise levels that could potentially cause them to suffer permanent hearing damage, as the noise becomes a problem when hundreds of pigs are kept intensively in close confinement in sheds.  Their advice in the leaflet says: “If any of your workers think their hearing is being affected, suggest they take medical advice and consider the need for regular hearing checks as part of health surveillance.”

One of the inspectors for the HSE said: “If you can imagine a shed with 300-400 hungry sows waiting for you to come and feed them and they are all squealing at the same time, the noise they make can be quite dramatic.”  It is not just pigs that can make large amounts of noise in a confined space, other animals such as chickens and turkeys can also become very noisy at certain times of day, such as when they are being fed.

If you work in agriculture and you think you might be suffering from hearing loss as a result of the conditions in which you work, then it might be worth your while finding out if you can make a No-Win No-Fee workplace injury compensation claim.  You might not have been offered hearing protection, or any protection you were offered may have been inadequate to prevent damage to your hearing.  If this is the case then the solicitors and injury lawyers at Camps Solicitors can help you to make your compensation claim.  Call 0800 092 8586 today to find out more.