Railway Works Noise Visualisation and Management (RaW-NoViMa)

At EAVE we are developing a novel, standalone noise management platform for both operative and environmental noise management. The platform gathers noise data from numerous digital sensors embedded in intelligent ear defenders that automatically capture continuous noise data before transmitting it to EAVE’s noise management platform called PEAK. PEAK is cloud based and so can be accessed remotely using secure login details via any web-browser. PEAK analyses and displays the noise data in a highly visual, intuitive and interactive manner that allows stakeholders to see any noise level from across their sites from any point in time. Seeing the data in this way allows for a proactive data driven approach to noise management and elimination. The active headsets themselves provide enhanced workforce safety by protecting the wearer from noise whilst removing a common temptation to take off hearing protection in order to hear what is going on around them or simply talk to a colleague. As awareness of the harmful effects of noise exposure increases, at EAVE we believe that our unique system provides the best way to view and manage noise for those within the rail maintenance and rail construction industry, protecting both the workforce and the industry itself from the varied short- and long-term risks associated with noise. Hearing damage caused by exposure to noise at work is permanent and incurable. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that over two million people in the UK are exposed to potentially harmful noise levels at work. The current measures required to correctly form a Hearing Conservation Programme (HCP) require extensive investment, time, expertise and specialist sound measurement equipment. This high barrier to compliance frequently results in ineffective risk assessments, unsuccessful interventions and ultimately harmful levels of noise exposure and permanent, debilitating hearing loss for employees. EAVE is an industry leader in the development of novel solutions to reduce the incidence of occupational deafness in the construction and manufacturing industries. The aim of this project is to demonstrate the EAVE innovation to railway customers in a representative railway environment. With support from High Speed 2 in recognising the potential of the EAVE innovation in the railway industry, HS2 as an experienced railway organisation and a potential customer is working with EAVE to deliver this project with a focus on the first implementation of the EAVE system into the rail industry via the Costain-Skanska Joint Venture (CSjv). CSjv are an owner of the railway assets and a potential integration partner. EAVE wishes to conduct this project in order to i) gather evidence on intergration challenges ii) demonstrate to railway stakeholder the commercial and social benefits of the solution iii) collect first hand data on user experience to develop a business case for using the EAVE solution in the rail industry.