Bringing an Occupational/Industrial Deafness Claim

Occupational /Industrial deafness is a condition triggered by the prolonged exposure to excessive levels of noise. If you have worked in any noisy occupation from 1963 onwards without ear protection and now have hearing difficulties or suffer from noises or ringing in your ears, or have experienced temporary deafness, then you may have a claim for occupational/industrial deafness.

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 now place obligations on employers to comply with the following to prevent occupational/industrial deafness:-
 

• Every employer must ensure a noise assessment is performed where any employee is likely to be exposed to dangerous levels of noise and is at risk of occupational/industrial deafness.
   

• An employer is under a duty to reduce the risk of occupational/industrial deafness to the lowest level reasonably practicable by muffling the noise, or reducing the period of time spent in a noisy environment.
   

• Where an employee is likely to be exposed to between 80dBA and 85dBA, hearing protection should be provided if requested by the employee. For employees exposed to 85dBA or more, the employer should provide employees with hearing protection without waiting for a request and they must take all reasonable steps to ensure hearing protection is fully used and occupational/industrial deafness avoided.
   

• An employer must advise and instruct their work force of the risks of occupational/Industrial deafness from exposure to noise and of the steps that can be taken to reduce that risk. Areas exceeding 85dBA should be identified and marked as ear protection zones and as areas in which ear protection should be worn to reduce the risk of occupational/industrial deafness

The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 came into force on the 6th April 2006. However, the Regulations do not come into force in the music and entertainment sectors until the 6th April 2008. Instead, for the timebeing, the old Noise at Work Regulations 1989 will continue to apply to those sectors. The basic difference between the 1989 Regulations and the new 2005 Regulations, in terms of trying prevent occupational/industrial deafness, is that under the 1989 Regulations, the lower exposure action level at which an employer must provide an employee with hearing protection upon the employees request is 85dBA (as opposed to 80dBA under the 2005 Regulations) and the upper exposure action level at which an employer must ensure all employees wear hearing protection is 90dBA (as opposed to 85dBA under the 2005 Regulations). Nevertheless, for all sectors outside the music and entertainment sectors, the new 2005 Regulations now apply in the fight against occupational/industrial deafness.

As deafness may be caused by factors other than noise suffered at work, in order to prove the true cause of the hearing loss it is necessary to have an audiogram carried out.

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