Refuse to be quiet!



Issued by City of York Council

City of York Council will be taking action on Noise Action Week (Monday 20 to Friday 25 May) looking at the impact of workplace noise on its refuse operatives.

The council’s environmental protection unit (EPU) is well-known for its work dealing with noisy neighbours and premises but it’s lending its expertise to monitor the effects of working in an noisy environment.

Staff from the council’s waste services work in a noisy environment. From manoeuvring heavy vehicles, working alongside road traffic, operating refuse compactors and emptying broken glass, the noise risks are many and varied. Staff in these areas are provided with ear protection and are required to follow rigorous safety procedures, but these need to be kept up-to-date.

The EPU will be looking at all areas of noisy working conditions and assessing the impact of this noise on the hearing of staff. Each staff member will have personal monitors to record their exposure to noise throughout their working day for a period of up to one week.

The EPU will monitor the exposure of refuse operatives on different vehicles and will observe work practices. EPU will then make recommendations to further protect their hearing and improve procedures, if needed.

Councillor Dafydd Williams, Cabinet Member for Crime and Stronger Communities, said: “Workplace noise is treated as an occupational hazard with measures in place to minimise the risk to the hearing of members of staff.

“It is important to protect the health and safety of our employees and I’m pleased we can deploy our in-house experts from the environmental protection unit to assess this and suggest improvements to our working practice.”



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