In message <[email protected]>, dated Wed, 18 Jul 2007, "Hudson, Alan (UK)" <[email protected]> writes:
>Not contradicting you John, just interested, as we supply equipment >which feeds sounds into army headsets for training "squaddies", and >I've always assumed the UK noise at work limits apply whether you are >wearing headphones or not. (or even ear-defenders!) That is my understanding as well, and I believe that UK broadcasters are of the same opinion; they certainly have adopted protection devices and working procedures to meet the 'noise at work' requirements. In repeated comments on the attempts to make compliance with the provisions of EN 50332 mandatory by various manoeuvres, I have pointed out that exposure to noise in the workplace is covered by Health and Safety legislation on an entirely different basis from 'maximum SPL 100 dB', and thus the use of headphones in the work place must be excluded. This applies to the use of headsets in call centres, of course, so the proposals related to (transient) acoustic shock in drafts of IEC 62368 can relate only to TTE for use in the home. It has recently been confirmed (subject to a final endorsement) that IEC 60065 is the appropriate safety standard for hearing aids (products in this class are not necessarily battery-operated), so they would need to be exempted from any '100 dB SPL' requirements. But what I hope is that better counsel will prevail, and a more sensible and effective approach be made to discourage people from damaging their hearing. -- OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk There are benefits from being irrational - just ask the square root of 2. John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
