Fire Alarm Hearing Loss Case Dismissed
Indigo Sun Retail’s appeal regarding a former employee’s hearing loss and tinnitus has been dismissed
On 12 December 2015, Haesel McDonald, 19, was working at the Indigo Sun salon in Dundee, Scotland. Just after 9am, the alarm sounded, and rang until 12.55pm. After around five to 10 minutes of it going off, she phoned her manager Steven Campbell asking for help.
She emphasised how loud the noise was, but Mr Campbell told her to stay at her post and she was afraid she would lose her job if she left the shop. Management were aware the alarm had sounded unnecessarily on several previous occasions.
The court heard the noise persisted for two more hours until Mr Campbell arrived and put tape over two alarms in the shop. He said that an engineer would be coming to turn the alarm off and that she should remain on the premises. However, the alarm kept ringing and the sound was only muffled. This single noise exposure gave Ms McDonald a headache and ringing in her ears for the day.
Doctors later found that Ms McDonald had suffered permanent hearing damage. The medics also concluded that her hearing would deteriorate with age.
The Findings of the Court
The All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court applied the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and found that Ms McDonald’s employer was liable at common law. It was ordered to pay her £241,277 in damages.
The Appeal
At the appeal hearing, Indigo Sun claimed that because the noise exposure was a single incident, it did not justify the application of the daily personal exposure level (LEPd) measurement that the sheriff used at trial. They argued that the weekly personal noise exposure level (LEPw) should have been used in this instance.
It was ruled that as Ms McDonald was not normally exposed to significant noise, so the sheriff was right to apply the daily measure as the default. The steps taken by her manager to reduce the noise did not eliminate the risk. It was ruled that Indigo Sun had breached its duty.
Indigo Sun, however, argued that the evidence could not be used to establish a connection between the noise from that single exposure event and any subsequent hearing loss. Ms McDonald showed a connection between the incident and her symptoms, as she immediately had symptoms of tinnitus and associated hearing problems and had no previous history of any hearing issues.