WE Solicitors have recovered tens of thousands of pounds, for former Smith & Nephew workers of Brierfield Mills, Brierfield, Lancashire, who have suffered from noise induced hearing loss. During the litigation process however, it has come to light that there were numerous Smith & Nephew mills, in and around the Lancashire area, where workers were exposed to noise levels exceeding 90dB.

During the handling of these claims, WE Solicitors obtained noise surveys from Smith & Nephew, which confirmed that in multiple departments within their mills, the noise levels were injurious to employees. Furthermore, claimants and their witnesses confirm that hearing protection was not enforced until around 1989, by which time, for many people, the damage had already been done.

Smith & Nephew’s mills included Brierfield Mills, of Brierfield, Victoria Works of Cloughfold, near Rossendale, North Valley Mill and Glen Mill of Colne, Chatburn Mill of Clitheroe and Coral Mill of Rochdale. Noise surveys confirm that all of these mills had areas of 90dB or over.

Some of the noisiest departments included weaving, spinning, auto-coning and astonishingly, at Glen Mill, the majority of the departments tested gave noise readings in excess of 90dB. To put this into perspective, a worker would only need to spend just over 2 hours in noise of 90dB to potentially damage their hearing permanently. Most of the workers however, worked in these conditions for 7 – 8 hours a day, at least 5 days a week.

WE Solicitors have now recovered over £62,000.00 in damages for former employees of Smith & Nephew, whose hearing has been damaged, as a direct result of working in Brierfield Mill. New claims are expected from former Brierfield workers and other Smith & Nephew mill workers, as awareness increases. If you worked for Smith & Nephew, or any other noisy working environment, please contact WE Solicitors for no obligation, free legal advice.