Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

For contact center workers and managers alike, occupational health and safety concerns remain one of the primary challenges in the work place. That is exactly why groups like the United Kingdom’s Acoustic Safety Programme (www.acousticshock.org) and National Physical Laboratory (www.npl.co.uk) are still focusing their efforts intensely on the subject of acoustic shock following the U.K.’s first Acoustic Safety Conference last November.

 

Headset makers are doing their part. For example, Plantronics has incorporated noise-cancellation microphones and its proprietary WindSmart wind-reduction technology as standard features into its latest headsets like Voyager 510-USB, which was announced last week.

 

But in working with the world's leading experts in the field of noise and acoustics, the ASP-NPL Research Partnership has concluded that continued research needs to be conducted. As part of their ongoing efforts, the Partnership is announcing that it has developed a working definition of acoustic shock in coordination with the U.K.’s Department for Trade and Industry and the Communications Workers Union.

 

“Identifying the onset of symptoms in personnel will help you to mitigate costs which will be incurred by your business as a result of a harmful noise incident. These include temporary or seconded staff to cover sickness, prolonged absence, medical costs, legal costs, health administration, premium increases and compensation,” Acoustic Safety Programme’s Operations Director Chris Attwell said in a recent email correspondence.

 

The definition can be obtained on ASP’s Web site via email or you can download it here:

 

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Robert Liu is Executive Editor at ContactCenterSolutions. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Jupitermedia and has also written for CNN, A&E, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. For more articles, please visit Robert Liu's columnist page.