KEY POINTS:
Bars and nightclubs are being told to drop their noise levels as health and safety inspectors plan a blitz targeting the hospitality sector over the dangers of workplace racket.
Officials from the Department of Labour will call into bars and nightclubs for "informal chats" with workers about noise-induced hearing loss as part of New Zealand Safety Week, which starts today.
"Our message to bars and nightclubs is pretty simple - drop the volume," said Maarten Quivooy, the department's group manager of workplace services.
"We believe the dangers of noise are not as well understood by those running, or working in, bars and nightclubs as they are in other industries."
The Health and Safety in Employment Act sets maximum levels of noise. A spokesman said the department would work with clubs and bars that exceed the accepted level of workplace noise, but those resisting reductions in volume would face prosecution.
If found guilty, owners could face a maximum fine of $250,000. No bar or nightclub owner is understood to have ever faced prosecution for breaching the act's noise limits.
The Accident Compensation Corporation says the cost of noise-induced hearing loss is more than $40 million a year, double that of five years ago. Around 11 new serious-injury claims from noise are made daily to ACC.
Mr Quivooy said steps to control noise should focus on the source. Hearing protectors for employees should be considered a last resort.
But the hospitality sector argues that it could kill their business.
Maureen Gordon, owner of the King's Arms Tavern live-band venue in Newton, said loud noise was part of the appeal for patrons and staff.
"It's another nail in the coffin. I've seen a few other pubs now that don't open Sundays because there's not enough customers. And with the smoking ban, customers who normally would spend a couple of hours at night [in a pub] would rather go home and smoke and buy their beer from the supermarket."
The venerable Auckland institution hosts hundreds of local and international bands every year, including heavy metal and punk groups.
"Could you imagine telling a heavy metal band, 'Would you mind please lowering that down?' It would be very detrimental for pubs who have music and need music."
Mrs Gordon said staff were supplied with ear plugs and customers could buy them at the bar.
She accepts that hearing damage can occur. "But people must be responsible for themselves.
"If a person's working here, they've chosen to take the job ... They don't have to be here. These people want to be here."
Hospitality Association chief executive Bruce Robertson said it sounded "like a pretty heavy-handed, government nanny state interfering again".
"There needs to be some recognition that this is an industry providing entertainment for a market that wants noise. Nobody is forced to work in that environment, just as nobody is forced to party in that environment."
The Department of Labour's move coincides with a national advertising campaign warning that occupational noise is "no joke".
DAMAGING
* Eight hours of vacuum cleaner or lawn mower at close proximity.
* Two hours of heavy traffic or earphone at average volume.
* Thirty minutes of chain saw or jackhammer.
* The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1995 states two maximum noise exposure limits: an "average" level over 8 hours of 85 decibels, and a "peak" level of 140 decibels (equivalent to a gunshot blast or jet plane take-off at close range).
