Glamorgan Woman Suffers Hearing Loss

A woman whose former employer failed to provide her with hearing protection for the majority of her career causing permanent hearing damage has spoken out to help prevent other workers from suffering ‘avoidable’ injuries.

With help from industrial deafness experts at law firm Irwin Mitchell, 69-year-old Patricia Jones  from Swansea in Glamorgan was awarded a four figure settlement from her past employer in October as through no fault of her own she suffers permanent hearing damage.

Patricia suffered her injuries during her work as a packer, printer and rewinder at a company in Swansea where she worked for over 20 years.

She was not provided with hearing protection until the late 1980s when she had already been exposed to high levels of noise causing lasting damage to her hearing.

Sarah Tagg, an industrial deafness expert who helped Patricia in her battle for justice, said: “Patricia was not provided with ear protection throughout most of her working life. This has meant that, through no fault of her own, she’s been left with permanent deafness which affects her day to day routine due to constant noise from heavy duty slitting and rewinding machines.

“To prevent future workers from suffering this type of wholly avoidable injury, I’d urge employers to take health and safety of their employers seriously, to ensure that noise exposure in workplaces is kept to a minimum and crucially to ensure ear protection is provided for employers for the duration of their careers.”

Commenting on her injury, Patricia said "When I first started to notice my hearing problems, like asking people to repeat themselves in conversation and turning my music up louder, my son would complain about this. I didn’t think it was related to work I’d done years ago. It’s so frustrating to think that simple steps could have been taken that could have protected me, that wouldn’t mean I’ll have to struggle with my hearing for the rest of my life.

“I hope by speaking out about my story employers will be encouraged to provide safety equipment to their employees and for workers to speak out if they think they’re not being properly looked after.”

Anyone who has an enquiry about a potential industrial hearing loss case should contact Sarah Tagg at Irwin Mitchell LLP on 0114 2744355 or email sarah.tagg@irwinmitchell.com.