Workplace Noise Assessment & Audiometric Testing: Making Compliance Simple

Managing workplace noise can feel complex, technical, and time consuming. Anitech Noise Assessment is designed to remove that complexity for you. By combining detailed workplace noise assessments with onsite or mobile audiometric testing, we deliver clear answers, practical solutions, and a straightforward path to compliance.

Instead of spending hours deciphering legislation and standards, you receive a tailored Noise Survey Report and a personalised Compliance Action Plan that explain exactly what your obligations are and how to meet them, step by step.

Why Workplace Noise Assessment Matters

Excessive workplace noise is more than an annoyance. Over time, it can cause permanent hearing loss, tinnitus, fatigue, reduced concentration, and an increased risk of accidents. In Australia, businesses are required to manage noise risks and keep employee exposure within the relevant Noise Exposure Standard, commonly referenced as an average of 85 dB(A) over an 8 hour day and a 140 dB(C) peak sound pressure level.

A professional workplace noise assessment helps you to:

• Demonstrate compliance with OHS legislation, Regulations, and applicable Australian Standards.
• Protect employee hearing through informed, evidence-based decisions.
• Choose the right hearing protection based on measured exposure, instead of guesswork.
• Identify practical noise-control measures at the source, along the path, or at the receiver.
• Reduce business risk linked to claims, enforcement action, or reputational damage.
• Improve productivity and morale by reducing fatigue and communication issues caused by noise.

When You Should Arrange a Noise Assessment

Many organisations engage Anitech after a specific trigger. If any of the following apply, a workplace noise assessment is either required by law or strongly advised under Australian Standards:

• You have received a PIN (Provisional Improvement Notice) from WorkSafe relating to noise levels or hearing protection.
• Employees have raised concerns or complaints about noise, difficulty hearing each other, or ringing in their ears.
• You are introducing new plant, equipment, or processes that may increase noise.
• You are issuing hearing protection such as earplugs or earmuffs to employees to protect them from noise.
• You are updating your risk register or safety management system and need accurate noise data.
• You are planning or reviewing an audiometric testing program and want objective data to support it.

In all of these cases, an Anitech Noise Assessment gives you clear evidence of current noise exposure, demonstrates that you are taking reasonable steps to manage risk, and provides a defensible basis for your decisions.

What Makes Anitech Noise Assessment Different

Anitech Noise Assessment is built around one aim: to make noise compliance simple and practical for your business. Every assessment is structured to save you time, reduce uncertainty, and provide real-world solutions rather than just raw data.

At-a-glance: What you receive

Step 1: Comprehensive Onsite Noise Assessment

Every engagement starts with a detailed onsite visit. Typically, 3 or more hours are spent onsite, depending on the size and complexity of your workplace.

During the visit, Anitech will:

• Provide all required safety documentation for the visit, such as SWMS, JSA, and certificates of currency.
• Conduct static noise assessments of workstations, production lines, and individual items of plant.
• Measure noise at typical worker positions and along key pathways to capture realistic exposure.
• Gather enough data to calculate employee or employee-group noise exposure over a working day or shift pattern.

These measurements are taken using appropriate instruments and methods so that your results align with the expectations of OHS regulators and relevant Australian Standards.

Step 2: Calculated Employee Noise Exposure (Done For You)

Raw decibel readings only tell part of the story. What really matters is how much noise your people are actually exposed to during a shift. Anitech calculates this for you.

Following the onsite measurements, Anitech will:

• Calculate daily noise exposure for individual employees or groups, based on their tasks and time spent in different noise zones.
• Compare those exposure values directly against the relevant Noise Exposure Standard.
• Highlight who is above, close to, or comfortably below the exposure limits.

This makes it straightforward to prioritise which roles, tasks, or areas require action, and makes it easier to justify controls and hearing protection to management and staff.

Step 3: Tailored Noise Survey Report

Once the analysis is complete, Anitech prepares a Noise Survey Report specifically tailored to your site. This is far more than a list of readings. The report provides:

• A summary of your workplace and processes assessed.
• Static noise levels at key workstations and items of plant.
• Calculated noise exposure for relevant employees or groups.
• Clear identification of areas where exposure is at or above the Noise Exposure Standard.
• Colour-coded results and charts to make the information easier to understand.

Because the report is written in accessible language, you can share it with managers, health and safety representatives, and employees to support consultation and engagement.

Step 4: Colour-Coded Noise Maps and Exposure Profiles

A key strength of Anitech's approach is the use of visual tools that make noise risk obvious at a glance.

You receive:

• A colour-coded noise map of your workplace, showing quieter and noisier zones and helping you to plan traffic routes, job rotations, and engineering controls.
• Noise exposure profiles that break down how noise levels vary across tasks, locations, and time, highlighting where small changes can deliver big risk reductions.

These visuals are especially useful when you are communicating with senior leaders or planning future capital works. They turn technical noise data into a clear, business-friendly picture.

Step 5: Personalised Compliance Action Plan

Where many providers stop at the report, Anitech continues by designing a personalised Compliance Action Plan for your business.

This plan is drawn from:

• The OHS Act relevant to your jurisdiction.
• The applicable OHS Regulations dealing with noise.
• Australian Standards that apply to workplace noise and hearing conservation.

Anitech extracts the relevant requirements and applies them directly to your situation. As a result, instead of spending hours searching through legislation and standards, you receive a concise, site-specific set of actions, which may include:

• Which roles require mandatory hearing protection and when.
• Where signage or demarcation for hearing protection zones is needed.
• What engineering or administrative controls should be considered.
• How often you should review your noise controls and re-assess exposure.
• When and for whom audiometric testing is recommended or required.

The result is a clear, practical roadmap to legal compliance that you can integrate into your safety management system.

Step 6: Practical Noise-Control and Hearing Protection Guidance

Effective noise management is about more than handing out earplugs. Anitech provides specific, prioritised advice on:

• Engineering controls such as acoustic enclosures, barriers, damping, isolation, or equipment modifications where appropriate.
• Administrative controls like task rotation, restricted access to high-noise areas, and scheduling noisy tasks away from peak staffing times.
• Hearing protection selection, considering the measured exposure levels, communication needs, comfort, and the risk of over- or under-protection.

This guidance is grounded in your actual measurements and workplace constraints, so you can invest in controls that genuinely reduce risk and support long-term hearing conservation.

Step 7: Phone Debrief to Clarify the Next Steps

After the report and Compliance Action Plan are delivered, Anitech schedules a phone debrief. This is your opportunity to:

• Walk through the report, noise map, and exposure profiles in detail.
• Clarify any technical terms or regulatory references.
• Discuss how best to stage your controls and investments over time.
• Ask questions about implementing the recommendations across single or multiple sites.

This debrief helps you turn information into action, giving you confidence that you have correctly understood your obligations and priorities.

Onsite and Mobile Audiometric Testing: Closing the Loop

A noise assessment is the foundation of an effective hearing conservation program. Anitech complements this with onsite and mobile audiometric testing, so you can monitor the actual hearing health of your employees over time.

When combined with a workplace noise assessment, audiometric testing allows you to:

• Establish baseline hearing levels for new employees entering noisy environments.
• Detect early signs of noise-induced hearing loss before they become severe.
• Check the effectiveness of your hearing protection and noise controls in real-world use.
• Demonstrate due diligence by not only managing noise levels but also monitoring health outcomes.

Because testing can be conducted onsite or via mobile services, disruption to operations is minimised. Employees can be assessed without lengthy downtime or travel, which improves participation rates and makes compliance easier across multiple locations.

Discounted Retests: Verify Your Improvements

Noise is not static. As you install new equipment, modify processes, or implement engineering controls, it is important to verify that the changes have delivered the expected risk reduction.

When you book a noise assessment with Anitech, you receive discounted retest rates within 12 months. This is ideal for:

• Checking the impact of new noise-control measures.
• Assessing noise after installing new plant or machinery.
• Confirming that previously high-risk areas are now within acceptable limits.

This cost-effective retesting gives you current, defensible data and helps you maintain compliance as your operations evolve.

Independent Second Opinions at Discounted Rates

If you have recently had a noise assessment conducted by another provider and are not confident in the results, Anitech can provide an independent second opinion at a discounted rate.

This service is particularly valuable if:

• You believe the initial report may overstate the need for certain controls or testing.
• You feel you are being pushed toward unnecessary audiometric testing programs.
• The report is unclear, overly technical, or appears inconsistent with site observations.

By commissioning an independent noise survey report from Anitech, you gain clarity and confidence in your decision making, backed by clear calculations, explanations, and a transparent action plan.

Multi-Site and Growing Businesses

For organisations with multiple locations, achieving consistent noise management and compliance can be challenging. Anitech's approach is well suited to multi-site operations because it offers:

• Standardised assessment methods so results are comparable across all sites.
• Tailored Compliance Action Plans that reflect each state's specific legislation where required.
• Discounted retest and second-opinion pricing to support staged rollouts across several locations.
• Integration with onsite/mobile audiometric testing to provide a consistent hearing conservation program nationwide.

This allows you to build a coherent, company-wide strategy for noise management and hearing conservation, while still respecting the unique characteristics of each site.

How a Typical Anitech Noise Assessment Engagement Unfolds

To help you understand what to expect, a typical engagement follows these stages:

1. Initial discussion to understand your business, sites, and reasons for assessment (such as WorkSafe PIN, complaints, new plant, or hearing protection issuance).
2. Planning and documentation, including provision of SWMS, JSA, and insurance certificates for your site access requirements.
3. Onsite measurement over 3 or more hours, capturing data at key workstations, plant items, paths, and representative tasks.
4. Data analysis and calculations, including employee or group noise exposure levels compared with the Noise Exposure Standard.
5. Noise Survey Report preparation, including noise maps, exposure profiles, and clear explanations of findings.
6. Compliance Action Plan development, extracting and applying the relevant parts of OHS legislation and standards to your situation.
7. Delivery of documents for your records, risk register, and safety management system.
8. Phone debrief to walk through the results, answer questions, and discuss implementation options.
9. Optional follow-up through discounted retests or integration with onsite/mobile audiometric testing.

Benefits You Can Expect for Your Business

Engaging Anitech Noise Assessment and audiometric testing services delivers a wide range of business benefits, including:

• Time savings by having experts interpret legislation, calculate exposure, and prepare ready-to-use documents.
• Reduced compliance risk through evidence-based noise data and tailored action plans aligned with your jurisdiction's laws.
• Improved employee protection, thanks to correct hearing protection selection and practical noise-control recommendations.
• Better decision making, supported by colour-coded noise maps and clear exposure profiles.
• Stronger safety culture by demonstrating visible commitment to preventing hearing loss.
• Long-term cost control from targeted controls, reduced likelihood of claims, and optimised hearing conservation programs.

Putting It All Together: A Complete Hearing Conservation Pathway

When you combine Anitech's workplace noise assessment with onsite or mobile audiometric testing, you create a complete, end-to-end hearing conservation pathway:

• Measure and understand workplace noise with a detailed survey.
• Calculate and compare actual employee exposure with the Noise Exposure Standard.
• Plan and act using a personalised Compliance Action Plan tailored to your state and your operations.
• Monitor and verify hearing health with ongoing audiometric testing.
• Review and improve through discounted retests after changes or improvements.

The result is a practical, defensible, and proactive approach to managing workplace noise and protecting your people, while keeping your business efficient, productive, and compliant.