Free blowgun for new Noise Regs compliance
May 30th 2006

A new EU Noise Directive has become UK Law, affecting thousands of workers throughout UK manufacturing. The main points of the new Directive are lowering the levels of noise at which protection must be provided, requiring employers to offer more hearing checks and, for the first time, setting a maximum level of noise that employees can legally be exposed to.

Under current legislation (the Noise at Work Regulations 1989), the first action level is a daily personal noise exposure of 85dBA, the second action level is a daily personal noise exposure of 90dBA, and the peak action level is a peak sound pressure of 200 pascals. When the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive is implemented, the first action level will be reduced to 80dBA, the second action level to 85dBA and there will be a limit of 87dBA and 200 pascals. The limit value will take into account the reduction afforded by hearing protection.

The use of compressed air is inherently noisy and can often be clearly heard above the noise created by production machinery, making the environment uncomfortable for workers. Meech Air Technology can offer significant noise reductions, within the limits of the new law, through the use of several of its products such as the Safety Blowgun. Using the Meech Safety Blowgun at 80psi, the noise level is only 78dBA, 2dBA lower than the first action level of the new law. Compare this to a standard blowgun that will have a noise level of approximately 93dBA, 6dBA above the limit value of the new law.

The Meech Safety Blowgun combines an ergonomic lightweight gun handle with the unique Meech Safety Nozzle. This innovative nozzle design forces compressed air through an adjustable shim and then directs it at high velocity on to the outside of the nozzle cone. This design amplifies the output airflow by entraining ambient air at a ratio of 25:1 to provide ample cleaning power and flow whilst lowering air consumption and noise levels.

Meech is offering a FREE blowgun to the first 50 IP&E readers to respond to this story. Click here to enter the draw.

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