Noise information in sales literature of machinery as a support to Sell and Buy Quiet

The Sell & Buy Quiet concept helps employers to protect their workers from risks arising from the exposure to noise emitted by machines. Reliable noise emission data are key to successfully implement this concept in practice. The NOMAD (NOise MAchinery Directive) project aims to assess and improve the quality of noise information provided by machinery manufacturers in sales literature and instruction manuals of machinery in accordance with the Machinery Directive 2006/42/EC. Here, we present the results of a pre-market surveillance exercise, which examined the compliance of noise information in sales literature. Machinery manufacturers have to provide this information in compliance with the European Machinery Directive, if the sales literature contains the performance characteristics of the machine. The study investigated 85 samples of sales literature and 45 instruction manuals collected in five EU Member States. The faults found in sales literature were similar to those identified in the original NOMAD survey (NOMAD Phase 1), including the absence of noise information, confusion between noise emission and noise exposure quantities, incorrect notations and terminology, as well as missing noise emission quantities required by the Machinery Directive. Based on our findings, we make recommendations to stakeholders to improve the situation.