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Hearing loss

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sparkyg

Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas

I suspect I have lost some ability to hear due to working in a high noise environment for the past 10 years. I work for a contractor to a major oil refinery. I have found that OSHA requires my company to provide me with earplugs and is required to give me a hearing test annually. My company does not furnish earplugs (they tell us to get them from other contractors or from the client). I have not had a hearing test since I have worked for the company. Since it is possible that they could be partly to blame, should I ask for them to give me the test or go to my own doctor? Are they partly to blame? I am sure they know that they must provide these tests. Are they required to let me know that OSHA requires these tests? If I knew I was to have annual tests I could have caught this early and prevented it. (I did have one test done by my former employer about 9 years ago, so there is a baseline test established.)

Thank you for your advice.
 


tjr5150

Member
Not trying to be rude..
But if you work in a loud refinery, and it is that loud why didn't you bother to get some earplugs? Also if you found out osha requires your company to provide earplugs and hearing test you should force the subject to your supervisior.. If you think your hearing loss is do your work enviroment you can always fill out a claim and see what happens.. If yoou go to your own doctor you will be responsible for the bill..
 

sparkyg

Member
thanks for the reply.
I do wear ear plugs all the time. I thought I was doing enough. The annual tests would have shown that the ear plugs were not enough. If I would have known I was slowly losing my hearing, I could have bought some ear muffs or something.
 

sparkyg

Member
When you say "fill out a claim", what exactly do you mean? Claim what to whom? Employer? OSHA? DOL? Lawyer?
 

tjr5150

Member
When you say "fill out a claim", what exactly do you mean? Claim what to whom? Employer? OSHA? DOL? Lawyer?
I mean if you think your hearing loss is do to your job related field, you could file a worker's comp claim.. They may or may not except it.. If they except it you would see a hearing loss doctor or ear doc and workman's comp would have to pay for it.. I'm not %100 sure since all states laws very..
 

Maze

Junior Member
sparkyg said:
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Texas

I suspect I have lost some ability to hear due to working in a high noise environment for the past 10 years. I work for a contractor to a major oil refinery. I have found that OSHA requires my company to provide me with earplugs and is required to give me a hearing test annually. My company does not furnish earplugs (they tell us to get them from other contractors or from the client). I have not had a hearing test since I have worked for the company. Since it is possible that they could be partly to blame, should I ask for them to give me the test or go to my own doctor? Are they partly to blame? I am sure they know that they must provide these tests. Are they required to let me know that OSHA requires these tests? If I knew I was to have annual tests I could have caught this early and prevented it. (I did have one test done by my former employer about 9 years ago, so there is a baseline test established.)

Thank you for your advice.
Go to your own doctor and if the results indicate a hearing loss due to exposure to loud noise, then file a claim with your employer. Based on the range in which you have hearing loss, the doctor can determine if it is due to exposure to loud noises. Without a report indicating your hearing loss is job related, your employer probably will not do anything. (Under Texas workers' comp, you have one year from the date you knew or should have known that an illness is work-related to report to your employer. Hearing loss is considered an occupational illness and not an occupational injury.)

To determine if hearing protection is needed, there are steps that have to be taken, such as monitoring the noise levels and determining the sound decibels to which employees are exposed. If the decibels are over the OSHA permissible levels, then your employer has to provide the hearing protection and institue a hearing conservation program. Your employer should have been the one to provide you with the proper hearing protection - not the client or other contractors. Here's a a link to OSHA for occupational noise exposure: http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9735 and you can always give your regional OSHA office a call.
 

sparkyg

Member
The refinery in which I work does have maps of each area showing the decibel readings as required by OSHA. It is from these maps and the attached OSHA literature that I learned of the requirements of my employer to provide hearing protection, training and annual audiometric tests.

Now, hypothetically speaking. If I am found to have hearing loss related to exposure from work, who is to blame? I took the steps I thought were necessary to protect myself. But, my company did not follow the guidelines set forth by OSHA. Can I sue my employer to pay damages for my hearing loss? Has this been done? Is it worth the trouble of ruining relations and possibly losing my job? Isn't this similar to losing a few fingers in a machine? (you still have most of your fingers, but have been damaged. just like I still have some of my hearing).I haven't been to the doctor yet, and I know I am getting ahead of the process, but I have a lot of questions and worries.

Thanks again
 

Maze

Junior Member
sparkyg said:
Now, hypothetically speaking. If I am found to have hearing loss related to exposure from work, who is to blame? I took the steps I thought were necessary to protect myself. But, my company did not follow the guidelines set forth by OSHA. Can I sue my employer to pay damages for my hearing loss? Has this been done? Is it worth the trouble of ruining relations and possibly losing my job? Isn't this similar to losing a few fingers in a machine? (you still have most of your fingers, but have been damaged. just like I still have some of my hearing).I haven't been to the doctor yet, and I know I am getting ahead of the process, but I have a lot of questions and worries.
The premise of workers' comp is that it is no-fault insurance. It doesn't matter if you were at fault or if the company is at fault; if you have sustained a work-related injury or illness, the company is liable and you cannot sue them. (However, in Texas, an employer can opt out of the workers' comp system. If your employer does not have workers' comp insurance and refuses to pay for medical bills and/or hearing aid, you can sue them.)

If you do have a hearing loss due to exposure to loud noise in the workplace, your employer will have to pay for your medical bills and hearing aid. If you are assessed with an impairment rating, you will be due impairment income benefits. If your employer or their workers' comp carrier denies the claim, you can file an appeal through the Texas Department of Insurance. (Texas Department of Insurance recently took over workers' comp in Texas. Not sure if the appeal process is the same as it was when workers' comp was under Texas Workers' Compensation Commission. If it gets to the point of having to file an appeal, you can contact them to find out the process.)

You can report the company to OSHA. It can be done anonymously but probably wouldn't take your company long to figure out who contacted OSHA.

Good luck.
 

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