Thousands of U.K businesses are being forced to implement new telephone equipment to come into line with Europe-wide noise-at-work regulations...

High noise levels throughout the working day can lead to stress and illness. In the most extreme cases, they can lead to conditions such as tinnitus or even permanent loss of hearing. This is obviously less of an issue in an office than it would be, on say, a building site.

It is still, however, a serious issue for offices, and one which needs to be addressed if your business is serious about its commitment to health and safety in the workplace

By implementing telephone equipment with built-in sound protection, you can reduce the risk that your workers face. One of the best ways in which you can do this is by equipping your workforce with wireless headsets. Workplaces face two major forms of noise threat:

Acoustic trauma

Loud sound spikes caused by system failures can lead to permanent loss of hearing. Call centres have reported an increase of disgruntled callers using high pitched whistles and other devices to harm their employee’s hearing.

As cordless headsets ensure that neither of these is an issue, as they limit sound in the ear to levels well below those that which will cause hearing damage

Acoustic shock

Sudden, unexpected, loud noises may affect hearing. The Health and Safety Executive has issued guidelines on action to take, and using wireless headsets is one way you can  

Jabra’s state of the art Intellitone system, which is built into all of their wireless headsets, has been specially designed with sound quality and hearing protection in mind. This digital signal processing technology automatically regulates sound levels to ensure that they do not reach harmful levels

Specialist business telecoms e-tailer Big Box Shop has a range of digital cordless headsets from leading manufacturers such as Jabra and Plantronics. These can help you to protect your staff from noise threats and at the same time make yourself compliant with health and safety regulations.