Hearing Loss and Workers’ Compensation

Hearing is one of the five senses that is very useful for people. Being able to hear at work is important. It allows us to stay safe and to be able to perform our daily tasks. A lot of people don’t realize this, because they are so use to it, but some of the noises happening in people’s work may be causing damage to the inner ear and leave the person with hearing loss. Hearing loss is not always permanent but when the injured worker lets it “heal on its own”, they can face the possibility of actually losing their hearing for good.

A Serious Injury

Hearing loss is a serious injury. Hearing loss can have many serious consequences. You can even lose your job since you are not able to listen to your environment and to instructions. The career you have been working in may all of a sudden be gone. This is why it is important to get treatment as soon as possible.

Educate Yourself

There are millions of people who are exposed to hazardous noise conditions at work. Hearing loss is becoming more and more common in workers. Educating yourself about what noises can be harmful is very beneficial.

Sound can be measured in decibels (dB) and the higher the decibels the louder the sound is. There are studies that have shown that there is a connection between being exposed to sounds which go above 80dB and permanent damage to the inner ear.

So you can have a better idea of what this actually means, a truck/motorcycle can emit a sound of 90dB when it is 5 yards away. A jackhammer 3 feet away can emit a sound of 120dB. AS you can see, there are a lot of hazardous noises all around us. Long exposure can have serious damage to your ears.

Tips

It is recommended that if you work in an environment where you are exposed to loud noises, to wear the proper hearing protection and to schedule regular hearing tests just to be on the safe side. Even if you are wearing hearing protection, it is still recommended to stay as far away as possible from where the loud noise is coming from.

There are many times where even when the worker takes the necessary precautions from the loud noises, they still get hearing loss. When this happens it is important to get compensated the benefits you deserve.

You qualify for workers’ compensation if your hearing loss was due to: one traumatic event such as an explosion, repetitive trauma caused by constant exposure to loud sounds, and ongoing exposure to loud sounds in noisy environments.

Get Help

Applying for workers compensation can be a long and hard process. You should consult with a work injury attorney to get the help and guidance to move forward with this unfortunate event.

NOTICE: Making a false or fraudulent Workers Compensation claim is a felony subject to up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to $50,000 or double the value of the fraud, whichever is greater, or by both imprisonment and fine.