Compensation for Noise Induced Hearing Loss
Employers have been under a duty for many years to take measures to protect their employees from exposure to excessive noise in the workplace. So if they’ve failed to do so, you may be entitled to make an industrial disease claim for compensation.
For free legal advice get in touch with our Industrial Disease Solicitors. We may be able to deal with your claim on a No Win, No Fee basis – ask us for details.
Noise at Work Regulations
It’s been our experience as Industrial Disease Solicitors that many employers were slow to act to protect their employees from noise damage, despite being aware of the dangers of excessive noise, and we’ve been successful in making industrial disease claims against some of the UK’s largest employers, such as BT, British Rail, British Steel and British Coal for our clients.
As far back as the early 1960s, the dangers of prolonged exposure to excessive noise at work and the risk of noise induced hearing loss have been known. From at least 1963, most employers are deemed to have been aware that exposing their workforce to excessive noise may have consequences for their hearing.
As a result, employers been under a duty to protect their employees from noise exposure either by reducing noise levels in the workplace or by providing hearing protection. The UK government then introduced the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 1989 into law to protect workers and impose stricter duties on employers. This included offering hearing protection or making the use of hearing protection mandatory when the noise reached certain levels.
A few years later, the UK government introduced The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (the Noise Regulations), which lowered the levels of noise at which hearing protection should be made available and enforced.
Employers who have historically exposed their employees to excessive noise and caused their workers to subsequently develop noise induced hearing loss can’t seek to defend hearing loss claims on the basis that after 1963, they didn’t know exposure to excessive noise was dangerous and they didn’t have a duty to protect their employees. And that’s the case whether they were a huge national company or a small business with only a few employees.
At Simpson Millar, we’ve successfully claimed compensation for thousands of individuals who have developed noise induced hearing loss due to their historical exposure to noise in the workplace. If you’ve recently been diagnosed with hearing loss or have recently noticed hearing loss which you believe may have been caused by exposure to loud noises in the workplace, please get in touch with our Industrial Disease Solicitors to see if we can help you.