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October 29, 2005
Stop that noise
This week is European Week for Safety & Health at Work. This year the campaign, which will run in more than 30 countries across Europe, aims to raise awareness on the issue of noise at work.
An estimated one third of Europe’s workers - more than 60 million people - are exposed to high levels of noise for more than a quarter of their working time. Noise-induced hearing loss is amongst the most commonly reported occupational diseases in the European Union.
Noise is an issue for a broad range of workplaces, such as factories, construction sites, drivers, entertainment venues, orchestras and call centre staff.
According to Siobhán Rafter, Manager of the Irish Health & Safety Focal Point, “the ‘Stop that Noise!’ campaign is very timely, given that a new EU Directive is due to be brought into Irish law next February.
This new legislation will reduce the upper and lower acceptable noise exposure limit and requires that steps should be taken by employers to ensure that noise risks should be kept to a minimum or eliminated at source”.
The South East European Information Centre (EIC) has recently taken on the role of European Focal Point for Ireland. In this role, the EIC will work on behalf of the Health & Safety Authority to promote European occupational health & safety issues.
The EIC is part of the official European Commission Euro Info Centre business support network.
Source: http://www.waterford-news.ie/news/story.asp?j=19736
Posted by 4HL on October 29, 2005 9:35 AM
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