Hearing Loss Compensation Award

A worker who suffered noise induced hearing loss has been awarded £4,000 in compensation for damage which took place over a period of years that he spent working in noisy environments. Malcolm Goddard, 60, first went to work for Corus in 1972, where noise was created by two furnaces, a roughing mill and underground hydraulics.

 

Although Mr Goddard's employers did provide him with hearing protection in 1990, it did not become compulsory to wear this until 1995. In 2005, Mr Goddard began to notice a hissing noise in his right ear. Later, he experienced ringing in both ears and realised that his hearing had become seriously impaired as he struggled to follow ordinary conversations.

 

Mr Goddard brought a claim for compensation on the grounds that he had been exposed to unacceptably high levels of noise throughout his career and his employers had failed to provide adequate protection.

 

Mr Goddard's story is far from unusual. It is estimated that as many as 170,000 people have suffered damage to their hearing as a result of excessive noise at work. Symptoms can range from a ringing in the ears – tinnitus – to permanent loss of hearing. However, hearing loss is an industrial injury which often goes unrecognised – often because of its slow onset.

 

New regulations were introduced in April 2006 in an attempt to give employees greater protection against hearing loss. These place strict requirements on employers to assess the risk of hearing damage and to take steps to reduce it.