PUB and club owners across Swindon need to take action now to protect their staff from excessive noise.

From April next year owners of pubs and clubs will be legally bound to protect the hearing of staff working at their venues.

To get the message about the changes that will have to be made, licensing and environmental protection officers from Swindon Council held a workshop for pub and club owners.

"These rules came in for industrial premises and all other workplaces two years ago but pubs and clubs got a stay of execution," said John Theobold, an environmental health officer at Swindon Council.

"The idea was to provide them with plenty of time to prepare for the changes.

"What we have found is that people are generally not very aware of these changes, "So we are raising the issue and being proactive, by organising this meeting, and hoping people start to think about this more.

"What we really wanted to get out of this meeting was the chance for small pub and club owners to hear practical tips from expert consultants."

The changes will see maximum noise levels in pubs and clubs cut by five decibels.

And bosses of pubs and clubs will have to take steps to ensure the hearing of staff, including bar staff and glass collectors, is not damaged by the new volumes.

Recommendations from experts included changing a venue's layout, so bar staff are screened from noise, carefully planning rotas, so no staff are over-exposed to volumes and placing speakers closer to bars, but using them at lower volumes.

Under the new rules new pubs, clubs and bars undergoing major refits will have to design their venues to protect staff - because not building in safeguards at the design stage will be illegal.

"Places where music is a major part of the business, like the 12 Bar, are already well organised," said Lionel Starling, licensing manager at Swindon Council, which has been praised by the Health and Safety Executive for taking this action so early.

"They use ear plugs for bar staff, they have a quiet bar and a loud bar for customers and they switch their staff from bar to bar halfway through the evening so staff are not over exposed to volume.

"But for pubs which only have occasional music, or things like karaoke from time to time, it will be more difficult to determine what to do."

He added that for some venues loud music attracted customers, and that cutting volumes could lose that trade - so it was important for those businesses to seriously consider the impact of the new rules now.

For advice on the new rules contact the council's licensing team on 01793 466161.