Tea workers win five-figure compensation over tinnitus

The trio process tea for Taylors of Harrogate and blamed low-level

noise in the room where they work for developing tinnitus.

Now they have agreed an out-of-court settlement running into five figures with compensation to help them manage their symptoms, which involve noise in their ears.

One of the men, Ian Walker, of Ripon, has worked a machine engineer processing tea leaves for tea bags since 1993 for Taylors at its factory in Harrogate. He first complained to the company about ringing in the ears in 2007 but said he was told his problems were caused by noisy hobbies.

The 43-year-old put up with the symptoms until he discovered a number of other colleagues were suffering from the same problems. Tests showed he had noise-induced hearing loss.

Mr Walker said the condition caused him pain and his ears seemed very sensitive.

"Our health and safety manager believed the noise levels to be safe and the company made some changes to protect staff," he said. However I have subsequently learned that the provisions put in place by Taylors, made with the best of intentions, were not adequate to protect my own hearing and that of my colleagues.

"Thankfully as a result of this case Taylors have now taken action to improve hearing protection for their workers and awareness has been raised around this issue."

Chris Fry, partner in the occupational illnesses team at Sheffield solicitors Wake Smith & Tofields, said the case illustrated the impact of low-level noise on hearing loss.

"Gone are the days where we see people with hearing loss just from very loud noise at work – more and more people are suffering from hidden noise damage from lower noise exposures which only surface in later life, or when tinnitus starts to become a problem," he said.

"As a result of this case each of the claimants now has compensation that will enable them to purchase digital hearing aids, pillow speakers and bedside sound generators, all recommended to help deal with the symptoms of tinnitus, and make daily lives much more comfortable."

Taylors has since introduced a range of noise reduction devices on the machines involved.

In a statement, the company said the claims had been settled by its insurance company without admission of liability. "We always take the welfare of our staff very seriously and have high standards of health and safety in all our premises," said a spokesman.

n Next week is Tinnitus Awareness Week. For further information call the Sheffield-based British Tinnitus Association on 0800 0180527.