Deafness: the new whiplash?

The topic of deafness claims will be on the agenda at the AIRMIC conference on Tuesday afternoon when two experts from QBE will be presenting on the subject a workshop titled Is Deafness the New Whiplash?

The session will be presented by Rob Smith-Wright, a claims manager in QBE’s special investigations unit, and Mike Barraclough, senior risk manager in QBE’s risk solutions team.

Smith-Wright said that many insurers have experienced a growth in claims for noise induced hearing losses in recent years, especially since the introduction of LASPO – the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act of 2012.

He said that while deafness is a very different type of injury from whiplash, and is dealt with differently, the sheer volumes of claims that insurers are starting to see now is reminiscent of whiplash.

Barraclough said that from a risk manager’s point of view it is important to differentiate which are historic deafness claims and which relate to problems that are current and ongoing, and which therefore indicate a need for safety measures to be introduced.

From an insurer’s point of view, he said one of the challenges is to work with clients to help them understand what their exposures are.

“If we looked at many historic claims we traditionally saw them from shipbuilding, boiler making, steel works and so on but now we’re also seeing it in light manufacturing, so it’s transcending all industrial sectors at the moment, which is a worry,” he said. “We need to understand exactly what our clients do – what are their processes, how many people might be exposed and how do they manage that.”

Part of QBE’s presentation will focus on the hierarchy of control as a way of controlling exposure. At the top level is the ideal situation: not to have noise in the first place. At the opposite end is personal protective equipment such as ear plugs and ear defenders, which is a more risky option that requires close management of staff to ensure they are wearing adequate protection.

Many employers favour the bottom end of the hierarchy of control because it is cheap, but Barraclough sees an important part of QBE’s role to be working with clients to help them move up the hierarchy, so that they manufacture the noise out rather than exposing people or getting them to wear ear protection.

“I’m hoping that our presentation at AIRMIC will help people refocus on the hierarchy of control,” he said. “There are a number of initiatives that employers and organisations need to look at and review and we can’t just rely on the cheap and easy option at the very bottom of the hierarchy because that happens to be the most difficult to manage.

“That’s the key focus for me – to encourage employers and organizations to revisit the way they manage and control the noise exposure of staff.”