Sometimes workplace injuries have an instant and obvious effect. If someone falls from a ladder and breaks their arm or suffers a head injury, they need immediate medical care. The ramifications of the workplace accident are fairly obvious and well-documented.
But this is not always the case with all types of workplace ailments and injuries. For example, many workers don’t spend nearly as much time thinking about how they could be exposed to dangerous decibel levels leading to hearing loss. However, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says that there are likely at least 30 million workers in the United States every year who are suffering from this type of exposure. They note that the limit is typically that a person shouldn’t be exposed to sounds in excess of 85 dB for eight hours in a row.
24% of hearing loss
Another way to look at this is by considering all instances of hearing loss in the United States, something that is tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to their statistics, about 24% of this hearing loss comes from excessive noise at work.
Part of the issue with hearing loss is that the damage is often permanent. Other injuries—such as the broken bones noted above—are likely going to heal with proper medical treatment. But it’s much harder for workers to recover their previous hearing levels, so someone who has been exposed to dangerous decibel levels on the job could have permanent damage that they will have to deal with for the rest of their life.
As a result, workers who have suffered this type of workplace injury need to know about all of the legal options they have to seek compensation.
