Clark v. Burlington Industries, Inc.

EAGLES, Judge.

Plaintiff worked for defendant Burlington Industries from 1951 to 1976, and from 1979 to his retirement in 1983. He worked in Burlington’s “weave rooms,” where power looms made continuous noise at or above the 90 decibel (db) level. (During the period 1976-1979 plaintiff worked in home maintenance and was not exposed to loud mechanical noise.) On 1 October 1971, new provisions of the Workers’ Compensation Act went into effect which allowed compensation for occupational hearing loss related to long-term exposure to harmful noise. Shortly thereafter, Burlington issued hearing…