EU policymakers, social partners and leading safety and health experts met on 12 December 2005 in Bilbao, Spain, to explore how to better protect European workers from noise and to award those organisations that have already managed to implement effective solutions.

The summit, jointly organised by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work and the UK Presidency of the European Union, is the culmination this year’s ‘Stop that Noise!’ campaign in 25 EU Member States as well as EFTA and candidate countries. Main topics on the agenda included:
 Noise in the entertainment sector
 Addressing the noise trends (educational environments and call centre industry)
 Choosing the quiet option (noise prevention and hearing protection).

As many as 60 million workers in the EU are considered to be exposed to excessive noise during their working hours, making noise-induced hearing loss one of the most commonly reported occupational diseases in the European Union. It is also one of the most costly, with billions of euros a year paid in compensations and in indirect costs resulting from sick leave, lower productivity and accidents due to impaired communication because of noise. The human costs are immeasurable.

 European Noise Summit official website