Regulator irritates competent consultants - the Regulator responds

By Chris Steel, Principal Specialist Inspector (Noise and Vibration) Health and Safety Executive, Specialist Division, and Sue Hewitt, HM Specialist Inspector of Health and Safety (Noise and Vibration)

The article Regulator cracks down on rogue consultants, published in the September/October 2024 issue of Acoustics Bulletin, caused some irritation to competent consultants, as evidenced by the letter from Tim Britton in the March/April 2025 issue. The crackdown article itself drew attention to the IOA Certificate of Competence in Workplace Noise Risk Assessment course. At the very beginning of the article was a content warning to IOA members that it included some ‘disturbing, but all-too-common examples of failings taken from real reports’ – the implication of this warning was that these were failings that would not be committed by competent consultants. The article alerted readers to the fact that HSE are striving to take action against poor-performing consultants. ‘Irritation’ was not an expected outcome, but shouldn’t this news be welcomed by competent consultants? Also, the HSE programme of work is not restricted to noise consultancy, it applies to the provision of consultancy for many health topics.

Where are the prosecutions?
HSE does more than just recommend prosecutions, it issues enforcement notices, letters and verbal warnings to secure compliance with the Regulations. Poor consultants do not always break health and safety laws and HSE does not always have to take people to court to improve workplace noise competency. Prosecuting a consultant requires evidence of the consultant increasing the risk to others. For example, if they told the duty-holder that noise levels were lower than they are and workers stopped using hearing protection, or earmuffs were specified that made it impossible to hear warning signals. HSE has no control over the size of fines, or of the duration of any conviction and receives no money from the fines, they are determined by the court according to the 2016 sentencing guidelines.

Where do we go from here?
IOA has access to the Workplace Noise Outline Report and the Buyer’s Guide and members can take advantage of the Certificate of Competence in Workplace Noise Risk Assessment and the Advanced Certificate Course in Report Evaluation. With very specific exceptions, HSE is not a licensing body and cannot operate a registration scheme for acoustic consultants. However, we would encourage the development of a registration scheme and would be prepared to work with any relevant association. Meanwhile, HSE will be gathering workplace noise reports as part of its routine work and following up poor consultants when appropriate.  IOA members have helped HSE review web guidance on competency for hand-arm vibration measurements and when this is completed, the intention is to then review HSE web guidance on competency for workplace noise.  We would encourage anyone who has encountered poor-quality workplace noise consultancy that has created a credible risk to email either chris.steel@hse.gov.uk or susan.hewitt1@hse.gov.uk