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In October 2005, almost 30 percent of the 160 telephonists at a BT call centre unit suffered approximately 145 episodes of acoustic shock over the course of 48 hours.
Bursts of white noise transmitted into the ears of workers through their telephone headsets left 45 workers in fear of noise induced hearing loss and other hearing damage symptoms such as tinnitus.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) complained at the time that the BT call centre should have been shut down to protect the workers as soon as the fault was detected and although the incident happened just two weeks before an Acoustic Safety Programme conference was held to raise awareness of the work injury problem, the subject of acoustic shock is still, according to callcentre.com, widely misunderstood and not being properly addressed.
What is acoustic shock?
Acoustic shock is an unexpected event of sudden, unannounced sounds travelling through a phone line or a web interface, in the space of under 16 milliseconds, and being transmitted directly into the ears of the headset wearer.
The sounds will often be characterised by the possession of a particular tone or frequency, or a speedy peak in the energy of the sound, perhaps resembling a bang or a clang. The headset wearer may then experience acoustic shock symptoms including pain and tinnitus.
At least one case of a worker who had her reporting of acoustic shock to employers met with inaction resulted in her development of hypersensitivity to sound as well as tinnitus and pain, and these symptoms ultimately caused absence from work through depression and fear of receiving more episodes of acoustic shock.
Eventually the woman was disciplined by her employers for prolonged absence from work, but it was found that she had grounds to make a compensation claim against her employer. The case was settled out of court after it was proved that the initial trigger the reporting of the acoustic shock - was ignored and no means to rectify the threat were put in place.
Reporting acoustic shock and making a compensation claim
The Control of Noise at Work Regulations have been enacted to help protect employees from dangerous noise levels, and to provide employers with a framework to uphold in order to provide a safe working environment.
If you have suffered an acoustic shock episode it is important that you report the details of the incident and have your hearing checked by an audiologist.
If you feel your reporting of a dangerous incident has not been acted upon or that your working conditions have put you at risk of noise induced hearing loss you may be able to make a no win, no fee compensation claim with the industrial deafness experts at YouClaim.
Your claim will be handled sensitively and professionally by our Solicitors Regulation Authority governed compensation lawyers, all who have years of experience and a high success rate.
What's more you will be protected from all fees, costs and disbursements to make your claim as stress free as possible.
Call us today on 0800 10 757 95 for a no-obligation chat about making a claim for acoustic shock hearing damage, have an e-chat or fill in an online claim form and we will call you back at a time to suit you.
