THIS popular weekly column by welfare rights expert Jim Strang deals with issues of interest to people living in Wirral.

This week's topic is about the Industrial Injuries Scheme, which covers accidents at work and industrial prescribed diseases, how to claim and what you can expect when you do. This week's disease is the well known industrial disease occupational deafness.

IS EVERYBODY COVERED BY THE SCHEME?

If you are an employee and suffer from an accident at work after 4/7/48 or you suffer from an industrial disease, although many were not registered until later than this date, you may be covered by the scheme. You must have been working for an employer, however, it does not matter if you were earning enough to pay tax or National Insurance, you are still covered.

ACTION AFTER ACCIDENT

As soon as you can after an accident at work report it to your employer. By law, if there are more than 10 people working there, an accident record book must be kept. It does not matter how trivial you think the accident is: a pain in the stomach, for example, may become a hernia. If in any doubt register the accident anyway. If you have time off as a result of the accident claim benefit right away.

OCCUPATIONAL DEAFNESS

There are 67 registered industrial diseases. The onus is firmly on you to claim for an industrial disease, so if you believe that any condition you have may be work-related then ask the DSS and your doctor for advice. If you ask the DSS, get their response in writing as the rules on back-dating have been changed so you will lose out.

There are three hoops which have to be jumped through before an assessment for deafness can be made. The first concerns the five-year rule. This is that you must have worked in an industry accepted by the DSS as causing a risk. That is to say, you must fit into their list. If you don't, then take advice: the DSS often get it wrong. The second hoop is that you must have worked in the industry for at least 10 years. This can be aggregated by many different jobs. The third hoop is that you must be at least 50 decibels deaf in each ear, although it only needs one to have been caused by your job. If you satisfy all these preliminary points then you are on your way to a successful claim. It is, however, a very difficult criterion to satisfy.

Occupational deafness is described as sensorineural hearing loss amounting to at least 50 decibels in each ear, being the average of hearing losses at 1, 2, and 3KHz Frequencies, and being due in the case of at least one ear to occupational noise (Occupational Deafness). It goes on to describe the type of occupations that can cause it, so if you think that you fall into this list and you can jump through the hoops above, then make a claim.

Jobs covered by the scheme are:

A. The use of powered (but not hand powered) grinding tools on metal (other than sheet metal or plate metal) or work wholly or mainly in the immediate vicinity of those tools while they are being used;

B. The use of pneumatic percussive tools on metal, or work wholly or mainly in the immediate vicinity of those tools while they are being used;

C. The use of pneumatic percussive tools for drilling rock in quarries or underground, or in mining coal, in sinking shafts, for tunneling in civil engineering works, work wholly or mainly in the immediate vicinity of those tools while they are being used.

These are just a sample.

Advice

I suggest you read DSS leaflet NI 2 to get a full list of the occupations. Only if you have the condition and have worked in one of the jobs described, will you be able to make a successful claim. But that is only the start and it is clearly a minefield to tread through. It is important to take advice as soon as you possibly can. Make sure that who you contact is an expert in the type of problem that you have. Do not allow people to practise on your case as there may be a lot of money to lose.

JIM STRANG COMMENTS

If you need to know more about this article, then you can write to Jim Strang c/o S. & J. Property Management Ltd., 81 Duke Street, Birkenhead. Don't forget to include an SAE for the reply. If you wish me to act on your behalf, then you can contact him on 652-8600 at the same address, 10 am to 4pm, Mon to Fri.

Readers are advised that Jim Strang reppresents clients on a 'no win, no fee' basis. Full detail sare available from him.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.