HSE say that “Serious gaps have been” found in protecting workers from excessive noise

HSE state that “Serious gaps have been” found in protecting workers from excessive noise. A press release of 10^th September says that the most recent inspection campaign has identified significant failings in workplace hearing protection, uncovering issues with employee training and equipment management.  At high-noise workplaces nearly two-thirds of all employees had not received guidance on the critical importance of wearing protection continuously during exposure to harmful noise levels. Training deficiencies were particularly evident, with 80% of employees receiving no instruction on the correct wearing of hearing protection.  Of particular concern HSE found that 95% of employers had failed to verify whether workers wearing hearing protection could still detect vital warning signals, including fire alarms and vehicle reversing alerts. https://press.hse.gov.uk/2025/09/10/serious-gaps-found-in-protecting-workers-from-excessive-noise