“Defence chiefs are fighting to prevent the Army’s tanks being stopped in their tracks by the introduction of a European directive on vibration and noise at work. The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations have left officers scrambling to discover if the military’s armoured vehicles break the rules.” The Ministry of Defence intends to invoke an “opt-out” provision to escape compliance; “If you are in a combat situation then clearly it will be difficult to bring in these regulations,” explained a spokesman for the health and safety executive, another government agency which is implementing the directive. (Thomas Harding, “‘Noise at work’ rules threaten to knock out Army’s tanks”, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 2). In the past, British defense officials have expressed alarm that the noise of gunfire during infantry training and even military brass bands could violate EU noise-at-work rules: see Dec. 22-25, 2000.
UK: Army tanks could run afoul of noise edict
“Defence chiefs are fighting to prevent the Army’s tanks being stopped in their tracks by the introduction of a European directive on vibration and noise at work. The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations have left officers scrambling to discover if the military’s armoured vehicles break the […]
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