When the compensation reflects not only the damage caused and the associated costs, but also reflects the impact on a potential future career
What happened?
A woman worked at a tanning salon. The fire alarm was faulty, and sounded unnecessarily on numerous occasions. On one occasion, the alarm went off and the woman was unable to concentrate on her work. She telephoned her manager, who promised to deal with the alarm but said she should continue working. This frustrated the woman, but she feared she may lose her job if she left. When the manager arrived, he managed to reduce the sound by placing tape over the alarm. The woman was not offered any form of ear protection.
The woman was exposed to an average of 87.5dB before the noise was muffled, and 82.9dB after. Employees must not be exposed to noise above 87dB, and employers must provide an employee with hearing protection at 85dB (at 80dB the risk must be assessed).
The woman was diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss which had been mostly caused by the exposure to the fire alarm. She was provided with hearing aids on the NHS, but these were uncomfortable and she needed to use those provided privately.
The woman had wanted to pursue a career in dancing, but no longer felt able to due to a loss of confidence caused by her hearing impairment.
Legal Outcome
The woman was awarded over £240,000 due to her young age, the immediate onset of symptoms, the hearing deficit being bilateral, and the prospect of deterioration in her hearing.
What can we learn from what happened?
The employer had the opportunity to not expose the woman to the hazardous noise, by insisting that she left the premises while he dealt with the fault and investigated the risk he was exposing her to. All the evidence suggests that the fire alarm was very, very loud, not just in the salon, but in the surrounding area. It also wasn’t the first time the alarm had sounded unnecessarily, so the employer would have had previous opportunities to resolve the situation on a permanent basis.
What is also intriguing is that the fire alarm is clearly a control measure to protect employees and customers from harm, but on this occasion itself became the source of the problem.
The level of compensation awarded when claimed in civil law can take into account costs that may be incurred over a lifetime, and also the impact on people’s lives. In this case there was the cost of private hearing aids, and the woman’s loss of dancing confidence which impacted on her career aspirations. These are extremely difficult costs to quantify, but the courts will do their best to accurately reflect the impact.
Source of Information
SHP In-Court