Making a legitimate injury disablement claim for industrial deafness can often appear to be filled with daunting obstacles and seeking hearing loss advice to obtain valuable, advance knowledge before pursuing any type of claim is always recommended.

Applying for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) for hearing damage is an area where a number of criteria apply. One stipulation is that you must have been working in a listed occupation for noise induced hearing loss no more than five years before your claim and your deafness will only count as a prescribed industrial disease if it was caused by exposure to noise while you were working in a listed occupation. If your deafness is because of prolonged exposure in a job that is not on the list, it will not be treated as occupational deafness.

Occupational deafness means deafness caused by exposure to noise in a listed occupation. It is classified as a prescribed industrial disease. You qualify for Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit under the rules for occupational deafness if:

• The degree of your disablement from hearing loss is at least 20%.
• You have worked in a listed occupation for at least 10 years.
• You were working in a listed occupation no more than five years before your claim.

Industry groups with the highest average annual incidence rates of new cases qualifying for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit IIDB (based on 2006-08 figures) were :

• Manufacturing and Construction
• Extraction Energy and Water Supply