Mrs H wins £8,000.00 payout after working as a machine operator at Osram (GEC) Ltd of Shaw, Oldham.

Osram (GEC) Ltd was a company involved in the manufacture of light bulbs and lamps. Mrs H had been employed by the company from 1962 to 1974, 1977 to 1979 and 1991 to 1995, a total of 18 years. She had worked in the HL2 and FL1 Departments. Mrs H was exposed to the noise of the various machinery, which included pinch machines, flange machines, filament machines, cap machines and printing machines, to name but a few.

During Mrs H’s employment, she worked in close proximity to the noisy machinery and she advises that the noise levels were such that she would have to shout to her colleagues to be heard, at a distance of only a few feet. During her employment, Mrs H was never provided with hearing protection or warned of the dangers of excessive noise exposure.

The case was not without difficulty, as there were several insurers involved and therefore they all had to agree to settle the case before the matter could be concluded. Furthermore a small discount of approximately 3% had to be applied to Mrs H’s settlement, as she was employed for a short period before 1963. 1963 is the date of guilty knowledge and any noise exposure, which occurs before this date cannot be claimed for. The Courts only deemed that employers should have had the knowledge to protect their employees’ hearing from 1963 onwards.

Both Mrs H and WE Solicitors are very pleased with the outcome, particularly as this was settled without the need for Court proceedings.