When Audible Warning Alarms Cause Injury

Event Overview

Whether or not an audible warning alarm is effective is dependent on its ability to draw the attention of the listener. If that alarm is not sufficiently distinctive, people can suffer serious injuries. Conversely, if that alarm is too loud, the alarm itself has potential to cause injury. In this webinar, Hawkins’ Managing Director of Acoustics, Ros Lambert-Porter, will define the characteristics of effective audible alarms and where they might fail, and how these failures can lead to catastrophic outcomes. She will also explore the case of Haesel McDonald vs Indigo Sun where a warning alarm was found to have caused injury.

Learning Objectives :

• Define the Characteristics of effective audible alarms and where they might fail
• Understand how failures can lead to catastrophic outcomes
• Understand the case of Haesel Mcdonald vs Indigo Sun

Speaker Bio

Rosalind Lambert-Porter – Principal Associate, Managing Director (Acoustics)

Rosalind is an acoustics consultant with degrees in both Audiology and Acoustics. With consulting experience in the United Kingdom, Africa and Australia, she has had a varied career in different sectors from vibration monitoring in mining and creation of hearing conservation programmes through to environmental noise impact and school acoustics design. Her particular area of interest, given her background in both hearing science and noise control, is in acoustics in the workplace with a focus on the impact of noise on wellbeing.

Ros held the post of Regional Manager in our Cambridge Office before becoming Managing Director of Hawkins Acoustics Consultancy.

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