Are medical exemptions possible from a need to wear hearing protection?

Hearing protection use arises where a noise assessment has confirmed there is a noise risk in the workplace, and there is an important issue with excess noise which is probably worth highlighting here.

If you have a risk assessment which says there is a chance of tripping over a pipe or something then someone may indeed trip and be injured, while someone else may work there for 40 years and never have an issue. With noise however, if there is excess noise then people in there regularly over time will have an issue, the only question is how much of an issue, but everyone will have their hearing damaged to one extent or another.

In most areas of safety there is a question of whether someone will be impacted whereas in noise the question is how much of an impact it will be as it is a given that there will be some damage.

This is important when the issue of medical exemptions from the need to wear hearing protection comes up.

Types of claimed exemption from the need to wear hearing protection

These are many and varied, may come with a doctor or GP giving some kind of exemption, or may be self-claimed:

• Ear plugs hurt my ear canals.

• Ear muffs give me headaches.

• A claim that ‘I get anxious in workpalces and need to be able to use my music headphones to control it’.

• My hearing is poor already.

• And 1001 one other reasons.

Can any medical exemptions be used to avoid wearing hearing protection?

The simple answer is no.

It doesn’t matter if a GP is issuing a note giving an exemption (they don’t have that power or authority) or if it is someone stating it themselves, there are no exemptions*.

This is what the HSE say about it in L108.

The issue is that if someone claims they cannot wear hearing protection as it hurts their ears, or if a GP has issued a note exempting them, and they work in a high noise area, then their hearing will be damage by noise. This is a certainty, that’s the issue with noise, the chance of damage is 100%, the only variable is by how much.

So, if someone works in a high noise area without hearing protection, their hearing will be damaged, and the employer will then be liable for that.

An employer cannot knowingly allow someone to work knowing they are going to be injured by that work, so they cannot knowingly allow someone to work in a high noise area while not wearing hearing protection.

If there is a medical reason for not wearing hearing protection then unfortunately that person cannot work in a high noise area. If there are no jobs available in an area with no noise risk then they cannot work for that employer. It is harsh but that’s the final outcome - they are medically unfit for the job.

What’s with that *?

*OK, there is a very very remote possibility of an exemption, but don’t get excited…

These can only be issued by the HSE, on a case by case basis, about specific individuals, and are time limited. They DO NOT apply to cases where people have or claim a medical issue, they only apply where the use of hearing protection could cause a bigger risk.

The only example I can think of I have seen where this applied in 30 years of noise safety work is bin men working on live roads - the recycling collection is over 85 dB(A), but hearing protection makes them far less aware of their surroundings and more likely to get hit by a car. The hearing protection therefore introduces a much bigger risk and this is the only time exemptions can be given.

And before any forklift drivers jump on that as a reason not to wear hearing protection, no, that doesn’t apply to you, nice try.