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Ann Widdecombe, former MP and Strictly Come Dancing star, last week helped charity, ‘Action on Hearing Loss’ launch their online campaign, also supported by BT, aimed at encouraging people to check for any signs of hearing loss.
It could be one of the best kept secrets in the industrial workplace, right to this very day. Certainly, industrial deafness consistently featured as the elephant in the room for most of the UK’s industrial past as employers simply failed to recognise the excessive noise levels, to which, many workers were constantly exposed during their period of employment.
The piping of loud music through speakers or the use of radios also playing at high volume on factory floors, assembly plants, garages, building sites and other industrial units has long been a feature of many traditional workplaces throughout the UK. Often company vans can have their in cab radios turned to excessive levels – and with windows rolled down – in earshot of nearby work crews.
It is astonishing to learn that in the UK, in the 21st century, there is an estimated 1.2 million people still at risk of suffering permanent hearing damage because of the continued existence of excessive levels of noise within the workplace. Industrial deafness claim cases are repeatedly brought to court, which graphically describe the excessive levels of noise that workers in various different industries have endured because of a lack of employer responsibility to provide the required health and safety risk assessments, awareness training and adequate ear protection.
Coming to terms with accepting hearing loss and taking affirmative action can often be extremely difficult or just simply plain embarrassing – especially if awareness of the condition has only become apparent after a long period of time. Often adjusting to the need to take some form of remedial action or legal steps, firstly requires being open and honest with yourself and then, with others.
