Military Hearing Loss Claims
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Military Hearing Loss Claims
Here at AWH our industrial disease team have helped many military employees who suffer from hearing loss as a result of exposure to loud noise. We understand how much suffering from hearing loss can affect your life, so want to help you get the compensation you need to move forward.
Our industrial disease team have years of experience providing legal advice and emotional support to military personnel who have lost or damaged their hearing whilst working.
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Get in touch to find out if you can claim compensation for hearing loss with AWH Solicitors.
Compensation for Hearing Loss in the Military
Who We Can Help Claim Compensation for Hearing Loss
We have helped military employees from the British Army, Navy and RAF make hearing loss claims after suffering due to their working conditions, however, our team have the knowledge and expertise to help employees from any part of the armed forces.
We understand that hearing loss can be painful, inconvenient and distressing, and can affect your personal and work life. That’s why we’ll be there for you, providing support throughout your claim and fighting to get you the compensation you deserve.
Occupational Hearing Loss Explained
What is Occupational Hearing Loss?
There are different types of occupational hearing loss, which are:
- Noise induced hearing loss, and
- Acoustic shock syndrome
Noise induced hearing loss typically happens to people who are repeatedly exposed to loud noise at work. This could be from machinery, engines, or weapons if you are employed as a member of the military.
If your employer has failed to put protective measures in place to prevent hearing damage, we can help you get compensated for your pain, suffering, and loss of earnings if you’ve had to stop working.
Acoustic shock is caused by a single exposure to an extremely loud noise. This could happen in military training or combat, and can be very painful for you.
It is your employer’s responsibility to protect you from acoustic shock by providing you with proper equipment. If they haven’t done so and you have suffered as a result, we can help you receive compensation.
Military hearing loss claims can help sufferers like you move forward with their lives by getting them the compensation they deserve. Our team knows that although nothing can take away your suffering, whether it be physical or psychological, getting compensated can help you to focus on your future without having to worry about money.
Hearing Loss Symptoms
As well as the loss of hearing, you might experience other symptoms, particularly if you are suffering from acoustic shock. These include:
- Headaches
- Hypersensitive hearing
- Tinnitus
- Nausea
- Ear pain
- Jaw and neck pain
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
We understand that these symptoms can be extremely uncomfortable and frustrating, and can also affect your work and social life. You might not be able to be in busy restaurants with friends and family without being in pain. Or, you might have to take time off from work or even leave the military because of how essential your hearing is for your job.
Our team can help you if this sounds like your situation. You might have lost out on wages or your pension because of having to leave work, or you might feel depressed and isolated. However you have been affected, we want to help.
We understand that money won’t undo the damage you have suffered, however receiving compensation for hearing loss experienced whilst in the military can help you move forward with your life.
Causes of Hearing Loss in the Military
Any military environment, whether it be training or real-life combat, is noisy by nature. There are many environments that military personnel have to work in which can cause hearing damage. Some examples include:
- Firing of weapons
- Improvised explosive device (IED) blasts
- Engineering rooms
- Flight decks
- Shipboard noise
It is not realistic to try to suppress the noise of a jet engine or weapon firing, so makes more sense to provide military employees with protective equipment such as ear plugs or isolation headsets.
It is possible for current or ex employees from across the forces to make military hearing loss claims if they have not been provided with adequate protection whilst working in a very noisy environment. If this seems like you, our team can help you get compensated so that you can begin to move forward with your life.
Your Employer’s Responsibility
Like with any other job, as a military employee your employer has a responsibility to prevent you from harm. Although exposure to loud noise is inevitable when serving in the armed forces, they can still make sure you are properly protected from hearing damage as much as is possible.
Your employer must:
- Provide adequate and functional protective hearing equipment
- Regularly check and audit noisy equipment
- Give you sufficient breaks away from noise as much as possible
- Provide you with regular health and hearing checks
- Where possible, for example in training, ensure legal limits of noise exposure are not exceeded
If your employer fails to meet these standards, they have failed to protect you, and by doing so are breaking the law.
If you have suffered as a result of employer negligence you deserve compensation, which is where we can help you.
How a Military Hearing Loss Claim Can Help You
Claim Compensation for Hearing Loss in the Military
Military hearing loss claims take into account a range of problems which can arise from suffering hearing damage, such as:
- Physical pain
- Psychological suffering
- Delay or loss of promotion
- Past and future loss of earnings
- Costs of past, present and future care and treatment
- Pension loss
- Equipment or adapted housing
We understand that suffering from noise induced hearing loss or acoustic shock can affect you, possibly for life. That’s why we will strive to help you focus on healing and moving forward by getting you the compensation you deserve.
How We Can Help You
We understand that suffering hearing damage or loss as a military employee can disrupt your personal and work life. We can help make things better by holding your employer accountable and getting you compensated.
We can help you if you have been injured or made ill whilst serving in the military from 1987 onwards, and you have become aware to the fact that you are ill or injured in the past three years. If your time in the military began before 1987 but you left after that, we will be able to help you claim for the period from 1987 and the date you left. For example, you might have began service in 1985 and left in 1990, but we can only help you claim for injury or illness in the three years from 1987 to 1990.
With years of experience in military hearing loss claims behind them, our specialist hearing loss team can get you the result you need and deserve. At AWH we do much more than just provide legal advice to our clients: we also provide emotional support when you need it. Let us help you move forward.
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