Plaid Cymru - The Party of Wales Euro MP Jill Evans is backing Welsh brewers in supporting amendments to a new European law on noise levels at work.

In a vote on the Physical Agents (Noise) Directive in the European Parliament the all-Wales MEP will support amendments that propose a more sensible and balanced approach to offering better protection to workers who are exposed to noise in the workplace on a daily basis.

As a member of the Parliament’s Employment Committee Ms Evans was recently approached by Cardiff based brewery S.A. Brain & Co. Ltd. who expressed their concerns that the directive (as was proposed before changes were made in the Employment Committee) threatened large parts of the industry, including brewery packaging lines. They also warned that the original proposals were impractical and unenenforcable.

Speaking from Strasbourg Jill Evans MEP said,

"For many industrial processes such as bottling beer it will be impossible to reduce the noise level from the machinery to below the limits in this law. The effect of this would be to close down large parts of the industry, including brewery packaging lines. To help avoid this the directive has now taken into account the positive effect of ear protection when setting noise limits."

"I will be backing amendments being tabled in the European Parliament to ensure that the Noise Directive doesn’t place an unnecessarily heavy burden on workers and employers in the brewing industry in Wales."

"It’s important that we have a directive which offers stronger protection for workers who could be exposed to dangerous levels of noise, including regular hearing tests and ear protectors. But it’s also important that the directive strikes a better balance between offering protection and being workable."

Hearing damage is often the reason for the payment of industrial injury benefit, and recent statistics show that 28% of workers in the EU claim they are exposed to a level of noise at work which makes it difficult for them to hold a conversation.

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