BT admits liability over engineers hearing loss, warning that others may be affected

30 November 2010: BT faces a flood of compensation claims after having admitted that the use of certain equipment known as tone sets has caused hearing loss and tinnitus among its engineers.

It is believed that these tone sets were used by more than 100,000 BT engineers and the company has already paid out tens of thousands of pounds in compensation.

In a recent major development BT admitted that certain types of tone sets commonly referred to as "green " and "unmodified yellow" exposed their telephone engineers to excessive noise consequently causing damage to hearing. This admission will now make it easier to establish liability and secure compensation in any future claims.

According to Tony Raven one of New Law’s personal injury lawyers and a specialist in Occupational Deafness, "Exposure to short bursts of excessive noise through the use of headsets may have affected other groups of workers particularly those working in call centres". "It is anticipated that there will be a substantial increase in the number of claims being made in this sector as awareness of the danger increases".

If you think your hearing has been affected by exposure to noise at work as described above then please contact Tony Raven on 02920 784218.

30/11/2010