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Sourced to orderEar defenders, ear plugs, banded plugs and helmet-mounted cups. We do not hold these, and we will not show you fashion earmuffs and call them PPE — tell us the noise level and we quote properly.
Nothing to browse on this page, deliberately. We do not hold this category and we are not going to pad the page with photographs of things that are not the right product. Tell us what the job needs in the form below and we come back with real options, a real price and a real date.
Straight answer: the ranges we hold data on contain no genuine hearing protectors, only fashion earmuffs, and putting those on a PPE page would be dishonest. Hearing protection comes from the PPE distributors and we bring it in to order. Tell us what you need and you get real product against a real standard.
The standard is EN 352 — part 1 for earmuffs, part 2 for ear plugs, part 3 for helmet-mounted cups. The number that matters is the SNR, the single number rating in decibels that the protector takes off the noise reaching the ear. Tell us the measured noise level if you have it, or the machinery if you do not, plus whether people need to hear speech or warning signals through it, and whether it has to fit on a helmet.
Over-protection is a real and common failure. If you take 30 dB off an 88 dB environment, the wearer is isolated, cannot hear a shout or a reversing alarm, and takes the protector off — which gives zero protection instead of enough. HSE's own guidance is to aim for 70 to 80 dB at the ear. Ask us for the right SNR, not the biggest one.
Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, the lower action value is a daily personal exposure of 80 dB, at which the employer must assess the risk, provide information and training and make hearing protection available on request. At the upper action value of 85 dB, hearing protection becomes mandatory and the area should be marked as a hearing protection zone. There is an absolute exposure limit of 87 dB measured at the ear, after protection.
SNR is the Single Number Rating: the number of decibels the protector takes off the noise reaching the ear, measured under test. Subtract it from the measured noise level for a rough idea of what the wearer actually hears. Real-world performance is always lower than the lab figure because of fit, so HSE recommend derating by about 4 dB when you do that sum.
Yes, and it is a common mistake. If the protector takes the level at the ear below about 70 dB, the wearer becomes isolated, cannot hear speech or warning signals, and usually ends up removing it — which is worse than a lower-rated protector worn all day. HSE's guidance is to aim for 70 to 80 dB at the ear, so the right answer is the correct SNR, not the highest one available.
Plugs are better in heat, under a helmet and for long continuous wear, and they depend entirely on being inserted properly — which is a training issue. Defenders are better where people move in and out of noise, because they go on and off in a second and you can see from across the room whether someone is wearing them. Many sites issue both.
Yes, as a request. The important point is that a helmet-mounted cup is certified to EN 352-3 only in combination with the specific helmets it was tested on, so the helmet and the cups have to be a matched pair. Tell us which helmet you are using and we will quote cups that are approved for it rather than ones that merely clip on.
Yes. Hearing protection is PPE, so it is provided free of charge by the employer — an employer cannot charge a worker for anything supplied to meet a statutory duty. Above the upper action value of 85 dB it is not optional for the employer to provide it, and not optional for the worker to wear it in a designated hearing protection zone.