News

27/04/2009

Telefónica O2 UK wins 'Hearing Conservation Champion Award' 2008

Telefónica O2 UK has won the ‘Hearing Conservation Champion Award’ 2008 for provision of excellent awareness and training in its contact centre staff on hearing related risks.

Chris Jacobs, Safety Systems Manager, O2, explains, “For many years the industry failed to take the issue of hearing related problems among contact centre employees seriously, but it is now generally accepted that there are real issues affecting a minority of people.”

Together with the Acoustic Safety Programme, we’ve developed a “Noise at Work” course which is available for everyone via the corporate Learning Management System (LMS) and specifically for those who feel they are potentially at the highest risk from hearing damage.

In addition to this, we’ve committed to a conducting a full noise survey across a representative sample of our contact centres. We’ll be taking measurements of both ambient and ‘in ear’ noise. We’ll also be taking a look at the other things we do to reduce noise at work including support and procedures for dealing with incidents as per the HSE's acoustic safety guidelines and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005.

We’re also developing a new headset that could potentially reduce hearing damage. As Chris continues, “There’s a delicate balance between having excellent audio quality, meaning the customer is clear when we’re listening and protecting the listener from unexpected noises, we’re aiming to get that balance right – best advice is to turn down the volume to the lowest acceptable level.”

Find out more - Acoustic Safety Programme

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