Noise at Work: See it before you hear it

Hearing loss caused by exposure to harmful noise at work remains a significant occupational disease. The Health and Safety Executive in the UK estimates than well over 17,000 people in this country suffer deafness, tinnitus or other ear conditions because of exposure to excessive noise. With manufacturing activity set to continue to rise for the foreseeable future, noise at work measurement products experts, Pulsar Instruments, have developed an innovative, inexpensive, monitoring and warning system for use in noisy indoor environments.

PulsarSafeEar is a noise-activated warning system that can be fixed easily on a wall in noisy factories, workshops, warehouses, receptions or corridors to warn staff and visitors alike when ambient noise levels become too high or exceed legal limits. This product is used as a noise indicator and is particularly suited where the risks to hearing are low. It does not replace a sound level meter and, in fact, both products complete each other well. The PulsarSafeEar is useful in environments where the wearing of hearing protection may not be required at all times such as in garages, certain factories or workshops where machinery noise is not constant.

How does it work?
When the noise levels increase, receiving information about the potential danger becomes important. To help with this, our engineers have used adjustable, high intensity white LED technology to help produce a highly visual and eye catching alert prompting when hearing protection must be worn.

Users can manually set the trigger level which can be found at the back of the device from 40 decibels or up to 114 decibels. When the noise in the factory reaches the selected trigger level, the sign wakes and illuminates and displays the warning. The safety warning message and icon can show without interruption for up to 30 seconds or can be allowed to continue to flash for maximum impact.

Added bonus
This system can be extended to cover a working area of up to 30 metres with the help of remote display units also known as ‘slave boards’ which link to the master units with a simple cable. This system is currently available in five different languages including English, French, German, Spanish and more recently, in Chinese. You can mix different languages by linking the boards to meet the needs of ethnically-diverse teams.

Finally, PulsarSafeEar noise-activated warning system can be upgraded to become a data logging unit to record noise levels over long periods of time such as an eight-hour shift. The data logging version comes with its dedicated reporting software to allow data to be printed, exported and annotated for future reference.

This a low cost product well-worth considering. Simply, PulsarSafeEar is the perfect device to help safety professionals control harmful noise levels in the workplace in real time and ensure that these stay within a pre-determined limit.

Established in 1969, Pulsar Instruments is a world-leading designer, manufacturer and reseller of noise measurement instrumentation to help safeguard workers’ hearing and comply with noise legislation in a wide range of industries such as engineering, manufacturing, construction, automotive, recycling, etc.

Find out more about the full range of our noise measurement products by consulting our website. Alternatively ring Pulsar Instrument on 01723 518011 to talk to an advisor.