Afternoon all, calling all centre managers.

Have any of you taken steps so far to ensure you're compliant with the new Noise at work legislation, due in force early next year?

Legislation Link

I've not heard much discussion about it outside of the headset manufacturers, and I'm wondering when the excitment is going to pick up.

Regards,
Darryl

Hi Darrel

I know that the CCMA were making a lot of noise about this earlier this year and the cc's that I have worked and work with in the public sector recently have certainly had to take this into account during planning. It is something that the Unions are fully aware of and my clients cant afford to ignore.

Im not a cc manager but thought I would put my 2 pennies worth in anyway.... its been a while since Ive been on the site!!!

Regards

AG

Hi Annabelle,

Yes, I noticed that the CCMA were trying to do get the word around a bit.

From what I see and hear, most call centre managers haven't stopped to consider what they need to do to:
1) Protect their staff from injury (and themselves from litigation)
2) Ensure they are ready for the change in legislation next year.

Just like everything else, it seems that it'll probably be left until the last minute by most people. Then they'll most likely end up paying too much for a "technology only" solution that can't do everything they need to comply.

Perhaps it's difficult for people to keep up with the constant changes in legilsation that affect their operations. Where should you expect to find out about these changes? CCA? CCMA?

Regards,
Darryl

>>>>>>>>Where should you expect to find out about these changes?

Thee and me Darryl thee and me.

But I was thinking back to a lot of the criticsm there's been recently of the trade associations. Some of them seem to exist to churn out the same old seminars and training courses, and don't really provide anything new in terms of information for call centre operators.

You also very rarely seem them at the forefront of public discussions on call centre issues - mostly because they're worried about being seen in a bad light.

For example, there's a group of people trying to start an organisation called the TMA because they're not happy with what the DMA are doing for telemarketing. Truthfully, do we really need anymore?

I'm a bit off topic now, so I'll bring it back into line...

The acoustic safety programme/CCMA are aiming to educate people as to what needs to be done to protect agents. This is greatly required in the industry because the information isn't available elsewhere. But why isn't this also being done by the CCA?

>>>But why isn't this also being done by the CCA?

Dunno, their website has a tie in with a solicitors for legal issues. However it looks like CCA only educate members and do not extend this to the broader arena.

We asked our headset company and they said we didnt need to do anything.

Dave.

Who is your headset supplier? Do they also supply you with an inline acoustic protection device?

If not, then the headset will only provide protection with Peak sound pressure levels.

You also have to guard against an 8 hour daily average being higher than 80dB(A). This is tricky to calculate because of the logarithmic nature of dB.

Even with both of these covered, you'll still need to ensure that you check for other risks in the call centre, such as indirect injury from sound and ototoxic substances. The last one shouldn't be an issue, but there's a potential that some medication could increase the chances of a member of staff suffering a sound related injury.

Finally, you need to ensure that staff are trained in the dangers noise can cause, and shown how all protection equipment (headsets & amplifiers) should be used in the call centre.

Roll on April.

Regards,
Darryl

Dear Dave (Planter)

We would be interested to know which headset supplier said you "didn't need to do anything."

Don't answer this question if you can't prove they said this.

Sincerely,

David

The CCA are very supportive of any safety initiative for our sector, particularly this one which supports call handlers' health. They sent out an invitation to the acoustic safety conference to all their members. We have to remember they are a corporate membership association, which compliments the CCMA who are a managers'/workers' membership organisation. We need both halves.

Sincerely
David