BT Impose Limits on BT Engineers Hearing Loss Claims

British Telecommunications has announced that it will be imposing limits in accordance with the Statute of Limitations in respect of hearing loss injury compensation claims for BT engineers with effect from 1st January 2013.

Following the company´s admission in Watkins v British Telecommunications (August 2010) that it exposed engineers who used the green oscillating and amplifying equipment to trace, install and repair BT telephone lines to an excessive level of noise likely to cause injury, BT engineers hearing loss claims have been mostly settled out of court for between 5,000 pounds and 20,000 pounds depending on the severity of injury.

Currently, BT engineers and former employees of British Telecommunications who have been diagnosed with a hearing injury due to using BT´s green and unmodified yellow testing sets are able to settle their BT hearing loss claims for compensation irrespective of when their injury occurred.

However, at the end of this year, BT intends to enforce a strict three-year time limit from the date on which a BT engineer or former BT engineer is diagnosed with a hearing loss problem in which to make a BT engineers hearing loss claim for compensation; after which, should a period of more than three years elapse, the company will contest liability.

The same three-year time limit will be imposed on all claims for BT engineers hearing loss compensation made by former employees who sustained an injury due to working in close proximity to jack hammers and kango hammers without having been provided with hearing protection.

Although the announcement will not affect anybody who has recently been diagnosed with a hearing loss injury due to the negligence of BT, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) has advised any employee or former employee considering BT engineers hearing loss claims to seek legal advice as soon as possible.

Please note: Not all BT engineers hearing loss claims are settled out of court. In January 2012, a claim for BT engineers hearing loss was heard in Cardiff County Court (Dew v British Telecommunications) after BT disputed the former engineer´s claim for special damages in relation to the cost of a private hearing aid. BT contended that an NHS hearing aid should be adequate for his injury, however the judge upheld the claim and the former engineer received a total of 19,372 pounds in settlement of his BT engineers hearing loss claim for injury compensation.