Audiometry
Around 17,000 people in the UK suffer deafness, ringing in the ears or other ear conditions caused by excessive noise at work. Health surveillance and hearing checks are vital to detect and respond to early signs of damage. HSE: http://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/keyfacts.htm
Employers must provide health surveillance (hearing checks) for all their employees who are likely to be regularly exposed to noise, or are at risk for any reason, e.g. they already suffer from hearing loss or are particularly sensitive to damage.
Ideally, you would start this surveillance before people are exposed to noise to give a baseline reading (i.e. for new starters or those changing jobs). It can, however, be introduced at any time for employees already exposed to noise. This would be followed by a regular series of checks.
Audiometry can be carried out by Well Travelled Clinics as a stand-alone test or as part of a wider medical surveillance. For more information on Audiometry and other surveillance tests, please contact: OH [at] lstmed [dot] ac [dot] uk