8.1 Legal Precedent: Hearing Loss Claims & HSE Enforcement
Legal Precedent
Civil claims: Workers can sue for compensation if they develop NIHL. Compensation ranges from £5,000 (slight loss) to £109,000+ (total deafness).
Significant cases: Cook v Ketson (2024) established new precedents on causation. Military claims have resulted in £60,000+ awards.
HSE enforcement: 2025 inspections found 75% of noisy workplaces failed to maintain hearing protection properly.
Common breaches: Failure to conduct noise risk assessments, inadequate protection provision, lack of health surveillance, no fit testing.
Penalties: Improvement notices, prohibition notices, prosecution (unlimited fines), reputational damage.
Defensibility: Documented evidence of risk assessments, fit testing, health surveillance critical for defending claims.
What it is: Employers who fail to protect workers from noise face legal consequences: civil compensation claims from injured workers, and HSE enforcement action for regulatory breaches. Civil Compensation Claims: Workers who develop noise-induced hearing loss can bring claims for compensation. Amounts are determined by the Judicial College Guidelines. Examples: Slight hearing loss £5,000-£12,000. Moderate loss with tinnitus £14,000-£30,000. Total hearing loss in one ear £31,000-£45,000. Complete hearing loss £90,000-£109,000.
Significant Legal Cases: Cook v Ketson (December 2024) established new precedents on medical causation in NIHL litigation. Military hearing loss claims have resulted in awards of £60,000 for combined hearing loss and tinnitus. HSE Enforcement Activity: 2025 HSE Noise Inspection Campaign found: 75% of employees in noisy workplaces lacked knowledge about maintaining hearing protection. 63% had not received guidance on wearing protection continuously. 80% received no instruction on proper wearing techniques. 95% of employers failed to verify whether workers could detect warning signals while wearing protection. Common HSE Enforcement Notices: Improvement notices (e.g., failure to conduct risk assessments, inadequate health surveillance).
Prohibition notices (immediate cessation of activities). Prosecutions (unlimited fines for serious breaches). What employers must do to defend claims: Documented noise risk assessments, evidence of noise control measures, provision of suitable hearing protection with selection justification, fit testing records with PARs, health surveillance with audiometry, training records, STS investigation records, maintenance records. Why it matters: Civil liability (hundreds of thousands per claimant) plus HSE enforcement makes hearing conservation a high-priority risk management issue. Fit testing provides individual-specific evidence that protection was adequate. Related: documentation-defensibility, cnawr-hearing-protection, l108-health-surveillance-audiometry, fit-tester-competence-requirements.