DEALING WITH ACOUSTIC SHOCKS

LEGAL RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: may/june 2012 :: RMTnews 24 In the last few years there has been an increase in incidents where employees have suffered hearing damage after being exposed to acoustic shocks at work while using telephones. Little is being done to protect employees from injury. Thompsons recently recovered substantial compensation for a telephone advisor who suffered damage to the hearing in their left ear when the phone gave off a very high feedback-type noise. Colleagues had previously suffered a similar experience and completed incident forms, but nothing was done by their employer. The term acoustic shock is broadly defined by the HSE as ”incidents involving exposure of short duration, high frequency, high intensity sounds through a telephone head set”. RMT members who use telephone headsets at work should be alert to such incidents and report them to their health and safety reps. In most cases the length and noise exposure from an acoustic shock will not be sufficient to cause noise induced deafness. The sound may only last a few seconds, or the exposure stops as soon as the employee removes the ear piece. However, temporary deafness, tinnitus, pain or numbness around the ear, head and neck, and sensitivity to certain sound frequencies (known as hyperacusis) are recognised symptoms caused by a acoustic shock: Experts say that sudden acoustic sounds are random occurrences but arise from three possible causes: • An electrical event such as lightning or a fault on the telephone system. • A fault in the call centre or office equipment, or with the transmitting or receiving equipment. • A high level noise produced by a malicious caller such as a whistle, or siren or an accidental noise such as a child screaming near the phone or a fire or burglar alarm being set off near the phone. LEGISLATION AND GUIDANCE The Department and Trade and Industry issued recommendations in 1989 that sound to headsets be limited by acoustic limiters to a maximum of 118 decibels. These limiters were introduced in 1991 by major manufacturers of telephone equipment. The legislation which protects employees is the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (to carry out risk assessments), the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. Under the noise at work regulations: • The maximum personal daily noise exposure, averaged over an eight hour day – called the 1st action level - is 80 decibels. • The maximum of the 2nd action level daily exposure is 85 decibels. • The maximum Peak sound level – a single exposure to sound - is 135 (1st action) and 137 (2nd action) decibels. The first action limit requires the employer to carry out a risk assessment to get an indication of whether there is a risk to the health of employees, to place them under a health surveillance scheme and carry out hearing tests. They must also provide information, instruction and training about the risks from noise exposure and make hearing protection available to those that request it. The second action level requires employers to reduce the noise level to the lowest possible that is practical to do, to make the work area a noise protection zone and supply hearing protection. The maximum peak level requires employers to comply with the requirements set out for levels one and two. If the Peak levels are exceeded then the employer may be in breach of the regulations. However, the 2005 regulations do not mention call- centre workers or refer to acoustic shock or the processes that produce it. Currently, if limiters are fitted then it is unlikely that an employer will be in breach of the noise at work regulations. In October 2004 the HSE issued a revised guidance note for employers on acoustic shock. The organisation’s initial thoughts were that “Acoustic Shock Syndrome” with the latest designs of limiters could not cause hearing damage and although the latest guidance appears to accept this is not the case, its only advice to employers is to implement a traceable recording system of incidents and to retain the data set out in the guidance note. The HSE continues to study research from other countries and has still not sought to change the relevant legislation to make reference to acoustic shock injuries to workers using telephone headsets, to reduce the Peak level to 100 decibels or to require all telephone equipment to have acoustic limiters limiting the maximum sound to 100 decibels. This is the safest maximum level for preventing acoustic shock. Instead, the HSE says that, in general, call handlers' daily personal noise exposure is unlikely to exceed the 80 dB lower exposure limit, provided good practice in the management of noise risks is followed. Clearly what constitutes “good practice” is open to interpretation because the guidance is so vague. This means that succeeding in a claim for compensation caused by acoustic shock relies on the victim being able to prove that the employer was in breach of the relevant regulations. Unless the alleged faulty equipment is retained and tested, and unless records are kept of all incidents by union health and safety reps, pursuing a claim will be very difficult. DEALING WITH ACOUSTIC SHOCKS Keith Spicer, national co-ordinator of occupational deafness at Thompsons Solicitors, warns that employers are doing too little to protect workers’ hearing from injury