Which NSW businesses need workplace hearing testing?

If your business operates noisy equipment and workers wear hearing protection, Clause 58 almost certainly applies to you. Here's a clear breakdown of what the obligation covers, and how to quickly confirm whether you're included.

Quick self-check

“Frequently” means workers use hearing protection often, or many times, across a shift. The exposure standard for noise is L_Aeq,8h of 85 dB(A) or L_C,peak of 140 dB(C). Source: SafeWork NSW — audiometric testing requirements.

Not sure whether your noise exceeds the standard?

These aren't the legal test, but they're reliable signs that it does, and a prompt to check properly:

• Workers can't hold a normal conversation at 1 metre without raising their voice
• Workers regularly operate heavy machinery, power tools, or industrial equipment

A noise assessment by a competent person will confirm it. For most construction, manufacturing, transport and warehousing businesses, the obligation is clear.

Which industries are most affected?

Clause 58 doesn't limit itself to specific industries. It applies wherever hazardous noise exists. In practice, the most commonly affected businesses include:

• Construction — civil, residential and commercial sites; crane operators, concreters, formworkers
• Manufacturing — production lines, press operations, metal fabrication, food processing
• Transport and logistics — freight depots, heavy vehicle fleets, loading dock operations
• Warehousing and distribution — forklifts, pallet jacks, loading equipment
• Trades — workers using angle-grinders, jackhammers, rotary hammers or concrete saws regularly
• Labour hire — agencies placing workers into any of the above environments carry their own obligations

What are the actual obligations?

Once Clause 58 applies, you must:

• Arrange a baseline hearing test for each worker within 3 months of starting in the noise-exposed role
• Arrange monitoring tests at least every 2 years while the worker remains in that role

Source: section 58(2) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025 (NSW), which requires testing “within 3 months of the worker commencing the work” and “in any event, at least every 2 years”. See also SafeWork NSW — hearing test requirements for NSW workers for the plain-English summary.

A note on terminology: the 2025 Regulation refers to its provisions as “sections”, so Clause 58 is formally section 58. Both names are in common use, including by SafeWork NSW, and refer to the same obligation.

The obligation sits with the business that provides the hearing protection as a control measure, not with the worker. Workers cannot be asked to arrange or pay for their own testing.

Good practice beyond the minimum

These two aren't spelled out in Clause 58, but both are standard in a hearing-conservation program, and the second is hard to separate from your general duty to manage noise risk:

• Keep testing records for the duration of employment plus 30 years. Clause 58 sets no retention period of its own; this figure reflects standard occupational record-keeping practice, given how slowly noise-induced threshold shift develops.
• Act on results. A worker whose results show a significant change should be followed up. Clause 58 doesn't spell this out, but section 57 obliges you to manage risks associated with noise, which is difficult to do while ignoring what your own testing tells you.