Compensation for hearing loss

Under earlier legislation pre-dating the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, the Court of Appeal held that textile firms were liable under Section 29 of the Factory Act 1961 for damage to a worker’s hearing sustained from January 1978. The judge said that the employers should have measured the noise in their workshops from as early as 1973. The judgment is significant because it held the textile companies responsible for hearing loss due to noise at lower levels than those generally recognised as giving rise to liability (Baker v Quantum Clothing Group and others [2009] EWCA Civ 499).