Baker v Quantum Clothing Group Ltd & Ors (Ver 2)

Summary

Hilary Term
[2011] UKSC 17
On appeal from: [2009] EWCA Civ 499

JUDGMENT

Baker (Respondent) v Quantum Clothing Group Limited (Appellants) and others

Baker (Respondent) v Quantum Clothing Group Limited and others (Pretty Polly Limited) (Appellant)

Baker (Respondent) v Quantum Clothing Group Limited and others (Meridian Limited) (Appellants)

before

Lord Mance
Lord Kerr
Lord Clarke
Lord Dyson
Lord Saville

JUDGMENT GIVEN ON

13 April 2011

Heard on 22, 23 and 24 November 2010

Appellant Michael Beloff QC Dominic Nolan QC Simon Beard (Instructed by Weightmans LLP)		Respondent John Hendy QC Theodore Huckle Robert O'Leary (Instructed by Wake Smith & Tofields)

Appellant Patrick Limb QC Toby Stewart (Instructed by Berrymans Lace Mawer LLP)		Respondent John Hendy QC Theodore Huckle Robert O'Leary (Instructed by Wake Smith & Tofields)

Appellant Christopher Purchas QC Catherine Foster Nadia Whittaker (Instructed by Hill Hofstetter LLP)		Respondent John Hendy QC Theodore Huckle Robert O'Leary (Instructed by Wake Smith & Tofields)

Intervener (Guy Warwick Limited) Michael Kent QC A John Williams (Instructed by Keoghs LLP)

LORD MANCE

Introduction

This appeal concerns the liability of employers in the knitting industry of Derbyshire and Nottingham for hearing loss shown by employees to have been suffered during the years prior to 1 January 1990, the date when the Noise at Work Regulations 1989 (SI 1989/1790) came into force. The central issue is whether liability exists at common law and/or under section 29(1) of the Factories Act 1961, towards an employee who can establish noise-induced hearing loss resulting from exposure to noise levels between 85 and 90dB(A)lepd.

Noise is generated by pressure levels in the air. The loudness of a noise depends on the sound pressure level of the energy producing it, measured in decibels (dB). The decibel scale is logarithmic, so that each 3dB increase involves a doubling of the sound energy, even though a hearer will not actually perceive a doubled sound pressure as involving much, if any, increase in sound. Noise is rarely pure, it usually consists of a "broadband" combination of sounds at different frequencies, and the human ear is more sensitive to noise at some (particularly middle) frequencies than at others. The sound pressure level across a range of frequencies is in a general industrial context commonly expressed by a weighted measurement described as dB(A). Apart from very loud, immediately damaging noise, with which this case is not concerned, damage to the human ear by noise exposure depends upon both the sound pressure level from time to time and the length of exposure, as well the individual susceptibility of the particular individual. Sound pressure level averaged over a period is described as dB(A)leq. Exposure at a given dB(A)leq for 8 hours is described as dB(A)lepd. Exposure at a given dB(A)lepd for a year gives a Noise Immission Level (NIL), which will build up slowly with further years exposure.

Sound is perceived by the hearer as a result of the conversion by the ear drum of the sound pressure variations in the air into mechanical vibrations. These…

JUDGMENT