A total of £41,000 compensation has been awarded to 7 Refuse Collectors whose hearing has been damaged whilst employed by Rochdale MBC Waste Services, all negotiated by WE Solicitors in out of court settlements.
Longer serving workers moved base whilst being employed by Rochdale MBC Waste Services from the Townley Street Depot in Middleton, to the Millfold Depot in Middleton, finally to the Green Lane site in Heywood. The latter is where the current workers are employed.
The workers were mainly loaders or driver loaders and the main source of noise was the noise of refuse and recycling materials being emptied into the steel wagon wells. The noise of this was recorded (according to their own surveys) to exceed 90dB. In addition, there was the general noise of the wagon and the noise of the crusher in the wagons, which would crush the materials once they had been emptied in.
It appears to be in the last year that the council have started to take matters seriously, enforcing hearing protection and carrying out hearing tests across the staff. As some of the claimants we have represented have been employed there since the 1970’s, the damage has already been done. One of the ongoing issues is that of suitable hearing protection. Workers need to be able to hear the noise of the traffic for safety whilst reducing the noise from the wagons.
If you think you may be suffering from noise induced hearing loss as a result of your working environment, contact us today on 0800 294 3065.
See stories from some of the individual claimants at the links below:-
https://www.hearinglossadvice.co.uk/compensation-of-8250-for-refuse-collector/