FORMER workers at a Radcliffe paper mill could be suffering hearing impairments caused by being exposed to “unacceptable” levels of noise.

Nine former employees of the shutdown East Lancashire Paper Mill are currently seeking legal advice on the issue, according to one industrial injury solicitor.

The mill, which was located in Church Street East, closed in 2001 after 139 years, with the loss of 200 jobs.

Madelene Holdsworth, of Manchester-based law firm Pannone LLP, says she has an increasing number of ex-papermaking industry workers seeking advice after being diagnosed with NIHL (noise induced hearing loss).

Typical of former employees now bringing a claim through Pannone is 72-year-old Mr Albert Isherwood, of Lancaster Avenue, Whitefield.

He started as an office boy with East Lancashire Paper Mill in 1954 and later worked in the engineering department, maintaining and repairing machinery. He lost his job due to the closure.

He said: “There was hardly a day I wasn’t exposed to the sound of massive machinery working and yet it wasn’t until the last eight or 10 years or so we were given any ear protection. Even then we would have to take it off to hear what colleagues said.”

After going to his GP with his hearing problem, Mr Isherwood was referred for a hearing test which confirmed NIHL.

He added: “I now have my phone on speaker boost and I have to have the TV and radio turned right up to hear. In company, I find it difficult to distinguish between voices and if anyone has a high pitched voice, I lose them completely.

“There’s no doubt that it’s a major problem for people like me who spent time in the paper-making industry.”

Miss Holdworth explained: “The problem is obviously quite widespread with thousands of people employed in the industry, many of them coming in to daily contact with machinery that produced high levels of noise.

“Despite the problem of NIHL being known, proper protection very rarely seems to have been provided. What we are seeing now is the legacy of that lack of protection with people suffering varying degrees of hearing loss.

“Anyone who was employed in the industry from the early 1960s through to the 1990s and has suffered NIHL through no fault of their own will have a case for compensation against their former employer.”

She added: “People think that because the firm they worked for is no longer in existence, they cannot bring a claim.

“This is not true because, although the claim is brought against their former employer, it is the insurers of that company who would pay any compensation due.”