Turn that noise down. No, really.

MC Glammer emails us with a timely reminder about the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. From April, the definition of a workplace will include music venues, with, as MC points out, consequences:

The acceptable exposure limit for staff during an 8-hours shift is 85dB. For every 3 dBs above that limit the acceptable exposure time is halved, so by the time you get to, say, a pub band in a small bar (approx 115dB) the exposure time is down to 5 minutes.

To be frank, five minutes of most pub bands is probably more than enough anyway.

The Health and Safety Executive's approach seems to be conciliatory and keen to find ways to work with the live music scene - rather than sending in blokes with clipboards to unplug speaker stacks - but for some venues, the month after next is going to be a strange environment to operate in.