An ESB employee was not provided with ear protection until 1987, the High Court was told today in the first day of a case for work-related deafness against the company.
Mr Bernard Farrell is seeking compensation for hearing loss he claims he suffered as a result of the noise at Poolbeg power station in Dublin.
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Mr Farrell began working for ESB as a labourer in 1968/69 in Pigeon House. From 1971 to 1977, he was employed in Poolbeg as a shift-relief and then unit assistant. From 1997 onwards he was employed at unit 3 in Poolbeg.
Counsel for Mr Farrell said until 1987, Mr Farrell was given no ear-protection of any kind. The Court was told ear-muffs were first issued in 1987 but no instruction was given on their maintenance which meant they could have deteriorated.
This was disputed by counsel for ESB who said noise regulations came in in 1975 and showed the court pictures of warning signs telling staff to wear ear-muffs which they claimed were on display from 1977 or earlier.
During cross-examination, Mr Farrell accepted the signs may have been on display since the mid-70s. "If you say so," he said.
But he maintained he would have worn the ear-muffs if he had seen the signs.
In 1997, the court was told, ESB carried out a hearing test on Mr Farrell. In December 1997, he was referred to a specialist as his hearing was not as good as it might have been.
The court also heard tests were carried out on Mr Farrell’s hearing in 1992 and 1995 but he was not told the results.
Mr Farrell said in February 1998 he was told by a man from ESB head office that he had industrial damage to his ears. He told the court the man said nothing else and the meeting lasted "less than half a minute".
Subsequently it was recommended to Mr Farrell to get a digital hearing aid for his left ear.
He told the court: "It gets to a stage where I just say yes and I basically don’t know what they are saying."
Continuing his evidence in the afternoon, Mr Farrell said that there is an alarm in the control room which he sometimes cannot hear now but which, two or three years ago, he could hear.
Counsel for the ESB presented evidence of a poster campaign about hearing safety in Poolbeg dating from 1980 to 1982. Shown the posters, Mr Farrell said he had not seen them.
Regarding the signs about hearing protection, Mr Farrell said "it was up to yourself".
Mr Farrell also denied seeing a poster for a hearing test in 1995 which stated the test was optional, and also that a person could obtain the results afterwards if they so wished.
After an adjournment to consider documentation, Mr Farrell said that he had never been consulted by a doctor about the results of the ESB hearing tests and that he was never told of his right to see the results.
Counsel for Mr Farrell said that from 1980 ESB had a policy that supervisors had to ensure that those under them adhered to regulations concerning the wearing of earmuffs.
Mr Farrell said he was not aware of that policy.
The case continues tomorrow morning.
