A GWENT employer is leading the way for Welsh companies to protect the hearing of their contact centre staff.

Caerphilly-based risk management specialists the National Britannia Group, CSL Group Ltd, immediately introduced a hearing conservation programme for all call centre staff after learning about the potential risk of hearing damage for call centre workers during a special presentation to the South East Wales Contact Centre Employers Forum.

Gerwyn Baker, CSL's call centre manager, said: "Acoustic shock is a major health and safety issue for all employers to consider, but is of particular relevance to contact centres where staff are on the telephone for most of the day.

"We wanted to act quickly to protect the health of our staff, so introduced a range of measures including hearing tests to benchmark their hearing levels, allowing us to monitor and spot any signs of acoustic shock or other hearing-related problems early."

CSL Group, which runs a growing service providing payments outsourcing service to a range of central government clients, are one of the first contact centre employers in South-East Wales to introduce mandatory hearing tests for all contact centre staff.

Alan Mackey, general manager, said: "Our team of 18 call centre staff are a real asset, handling 20,000 calls per month for our customers, so we naturally want to look after them.

"The introduction of the hearing conservation programme - the results of which we share with every staff member on a confidential basis - is a natural extension of our health and safety policy.

"In addition, we are making annual checks to ensure that all call handling equipment meets Noise at Work Regulations - in other words, that call volumes fall below the 85dB(A) limit, so as a business we can curb the possibility of hearing damage and protect the company from acoustic shock litigation cases."

Sandra Busby, director of the Cardiff praised the swift actions of CSL Group as a prime example of innovation and best practice within the local call centre industry.

CSL Group provide outsourcing services to the Department for Trade and Industry, Employment Services and the Lord Chancellors Department.

*PICTURED: Mike Jones, senior chief audiologist at the Royal Gwent Hospital, tests the hearing of CSL group call centre supervisor Beth Williams.