ABSTRACT
10.1 The risks associated with exposure to noise have been understood for many years. HM Factory Inspectorate (a forerunner of the HSE) published its booklet ‘Noise and the Worker’ in 1963 and the courts have deemed that employers should have been aware of the risks since that date and been taking action to control them. However, employers were slow to move and as a result there have been many successful compensation claims for occupational deafness and many workers are also in receipt of government disablement benefit in respect of noise-induced hearing loss.
