Criterion HS310#

All practicable steps are taken to ensure that noise levels in any ECE activity room do not unduly interfere with normal speech and/or communication, or cause any child attending distress or harm.

Guidance#

How to show you are complying#

To support children’s wellbeing and communication, you must take all practicable steps to ensure that noise levels in any ECE activity room do not unduly interfere with normal speech or cause distress or harm.

You can take practicable steps to address noise levels when designing or modifying the ECE activity room and when it is operating. These practicable steps can relate to noise levels affecting your service from activity outside your service (such as road traffic and neighbouring activity) and from activity within your service (such as children and air conditioning equipment).

Design & modification

Good planning and thoughtful design can go a long way in minimising noise issues before they arise. Both noise levels and reverberation affect how well people can communicate. When designing or modifying your service environment, aim to minimise reverberation and prevent external noise from entering the space.

Reverberation is to the persistence of sound in a space after the original sound source has stopped. It occurs when sound waves reflect off surfaces such as walls, ceilings, and floors, causing a prolonged echo effect. Excessive reverberation can interfere with clear communication, particularly in large or acoustically hard environments.

Some practicable steps you can take to reduce noise in indoor areas include:  

• locate access doors and opening windows where they are not exposed to environmental noise
• use a lobby, indirect or staggered access doors to reduce noise entering from outside
• provide a mechanical ventilation and temperature control system if doors and windows need to be kept closed to reduce noise entering from outside
• use acoustic absorption materials such as ceiling tiles, carpets, curtains, soft furnishings, and acoustic panels
• design fixed furniture and fittings to reduce reflections between parallel walls and reverberation
• use soft-close doors and rubber stoppers.

Operation

The manner of operation and management of your service is important to control noise levels. Some practicable steps you can take to reduce noise include:

• monitor and respond to noise levels
• schedule high-energy activities away from quiet zones
• limit background music and avoid amplified sound unless necessary
• establish clear expectations with children about acceptable noise indoors, supporting them to self-regulate in a developmentally appropriate way
• keep doors and windows closed if required to reduce outdoor noise entering the building
• maintain acoustic absorption materials and replace when required.

After licensing, you should continue to monitor and manage noise levels. Changes such as new activity programming, or nearby construction can all contribute to rising noise. 

If these situations occur, consider:

• attempt to ascertain the length of time the noise might occur
• how the risks to children and adults will be mitigated
• how this information will be communicated to parents.