Noise levels: Information taken from The Event Safety Guide, published by The Heath & Safety Executive.

High sound levels present a risk to hearing, both for those working at an event and for the audience. High levels of vibration can have serious consequences for the integrity of temporary and permanent structures. Both sound and vibration can lead to noise nuisance outside the venue. Therefore, proper control and management of sound and vibration levels is needed both in rehearsal and during the event.

If sufficiently loud, any sound, including music, can damage hearing if people are exposed to it long enough. The risk to hearing from loud sounds is directly related to the dose of sound energy a person is exposed to. The risk of damage to hearing increases the louder the sound and the longer a person is exposed to it. At high sound levels the risk of damage to hearing occurs at much shorter exposure times than at lower levels; at extreme high or impulsive levels the risk of injury to the ear is almost immediate.

Most members of the audience will not attend events regularly enough to suffer serious hearing damage solely as a result of going to music events. However, the louder events can contribute significantly to the overall sound exposure that members of the audience receive throughout their life, including noise from other leisure activities, at work and at home, therefore increasing the risk of damage to their hearing.

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSW Act) and the Noise at Work Regulations 1989 require you to protect workers and the audience from noise. The management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (Management Regulations) also apply to cover noise and vibration considerations.

For the community impact of noise from events, many local authorities already have environmental music noise control protocols which they apply to venues in their district. The Noise Council has produced control procedures for minimising noise in surrounding areas. Refer to this source of guidance for the control of environmental music noise and its impact on communities neighbouring outdoor events.

In terms of vibration impact, the effects off site will generally be much less significant than on site, with the nuisance aspect of vibration being most significant. For the potential nuisance aspects of vibration, guidance is available in BS 6472: 1992.

Workers Exposed to High Sound Levels:

The noise at work regulations act 1989 gives the legal duties (on an employer) to prevent damage to the hearing of workers from excessive noise at work. They set out actions which must be taken when stated levels of exposure are reached.

If noise exposure is likely to reach the first action level of Lep,d of 85dB (A) (Lep,d = daily personal noise exposure level) of peak action levels, employers must:

● ensure that a noise assessment is made by a competent person;

● provide workers with information and training

● provide ear protection for all workers who request it.

If noise exposure is likely to reach the second action level of Lep,d of 90dB (A) or the peak action level of 200 pascals (140 dB), employers must:

● ensure that a noise assessment is made by a competent person;

● provide workers with information and training

● reduce exposure as far as is practicable by reducing sound levels or the time exposed to the noise or both (without ear protection)

● provide ear protection to all workers and ensure that they are used correctly. The Regulations also require workers to comply with the employers instructions in respect of noise exposure, including wearing ear protection or taking breaks when necessary;

● mark ear protection zones and make sure that everyone who goes into them uses ear protection. This can include entrances to the stage, monitor mixing area, front barrier area, front-of-house sound mixing and lighting towers, and delay/distribution loudspeaker towers.

An essential element of the above is the assessment of noise exposure by a competent person. Guidance on how to choose a competent person and how to carry out a noise assessment can be found in the HSE publication L108 Reducing Noise at Work.

Consider commissioning a noise-exposure risk assessment with the recommendations for limiting exposure for workers and audience, before organising an event. These noise-exposure risk assessments can be then shown to local authorities before the event takes place and help prevent difficulties occurring on the day of the event. These noise-exposure risk assessments can also help satisfy the requirements of the Management Regulations.

Audience Exposed to High Sound Levels:

There is no specific legislation setting noise limits for the audience audience exposure to noise. However, the general requirements of the HSW act and civil law duties relating to negligence reveal that audiences need to be protected against and informed of the risk of damage to their hearing.

The event equivalent continuous sound level (Event Leq) in any part of the audience are should not exceed 107 dB (A), and the peak sound pressure level should not exceed 140 dB.

The above sound-level exposure values are for the whole of the audience area. For practical purposes, it is usual for audience sound-level exposure to be monitored close to the front of house sound mixing position. For the largest outdoor and indoor venues, this can be up to 75 m from the front of stage barrier position where the audience sound-level exposure can be significantly higher than at the front of house (FOH) sound mixing position.

Ensure that during the sound check the difference in sound level between the FOH sound mixing position and the front-of-stage barrier, and where delay/distribution stacks are in use, at the barrier for each delay/distribution stack, is established. This will then allow a guideline sound pressure level for the FOH sound mixing position to be determined which will restrict the whole of the audience sound-level exposure to below an Event Leq of 107 dB (A), and peak sound pressure levels to below 140 dB.

Where practicable, the audience should not be allowed within 3 m of any loudspeaker. This can be archived by the use of approved safety barriers and dedicated stewards, wearing appropriate ear protection. Where this is not practical, the overall music sound levels will have to be modified so that people closer than 3 m to the loudspeakers are not exposed to an event Leq of more than 107 dB (A) or a peak sound pressure level of more than 140 dB. Under no circumstances should the audience and loudspeaker separation be less than 1 m.

Where the event Leq is likely to exceed 96 dB (A) advise the audience of the risk to their hearing in advance, e.g. either on tickets, advertising or notices at entry points.