A right ding-dong over bell noise

Scottish teachers' union claims PFI schools are installing dangerously loud bells to save money

School bells are now so loud they're damaging pupils and teachers' hearing, a teachers' trade union said today.

Schools are installing one thundering bell, rather than four quieter ones to cut costs, the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association has warned.

The most guilty of the aural assault are new schools built under public-private partnerships – according to the union, this is because they fail to make regular health and safety checks.

Jim Docherty, the SSTA's acting general secretary, says it is only a matter of time before parents and children sued education authorities over the harm inflicted on their hearing from the bells.

He says: "The noise levels experienced by those close to many school bells far exceed any tolerable limits and must constitute a significant danger to the hearing of bystanders.

"Schools built under public-private partnership arrangements are worse than many older schools. In many schools there has been a consistent failure to carry out adequate risk assessments, as required by the Health and Safety at Work Act.

"Quite simply many of these schools have been built on a minimum cost basis."

Is this all hell's bells? We're becoming used to noise, after all.

Alarm clocks and heavy traffic are now thought to have reached 80 decibels on average – the level thought to harm us is 85 dB.