17Loss of hearing—special provisions

17 Loss of hearing—special provisions

17 Loss of hearing—special provisions

(cf former s 7 (4B), (4BB))

(1) If an injury is a loss, or further loss, of hearing which is of such a nature as to be caused by a gradual process, the following provisions have effect—

(a) for the purposes of this Act, the injury shall be deemed to have happened—

(i) where the worker was, at the time when he or she gave notice of the injury, employed in an employment to the nature of which the injury was due—at the time when the notice was given, or

(ii) where the worker was not so employed at the time when he or she gave notice of the injury—on the last day on which the worker was employed in an employment to the nature of which the injury was due before he or she gave the notice,

(b) the provisions of section 61 of the 1998 Act shall apply to or in respect of the injury as if the words “as soon as practicable after the injury happened and before the worker has voluntarily left the employment in which the worker was at the time of the injury” were omitted therefrom,

(c) compensation is payable by—

(i) where the worker was employed by an employer in an employment to the nature of which the injury was due at the time he or she gave notice of the injury—that employer, or

(ii) where the worker was not so employed—the last employer by whom the worker was employed in an employment to the nature of which the injury was due before he or she gave the notice,

(d) an employer (not being an employer referred to in paragraph (c) (i) or (ii)) by whom the worker was employed in an employment to the nature of which the injury was due during the relevant period (as defined in paragraph (e)) shall be liable to make to an employer referred to in paragraph (c) (i) or (ii) a contribution which bears to the amount of compensation payable the same proportion as the period of that employment during the relevant period bears to the total period of employment of that worker in an employment to the nature of which the injury was due during the relevant period,

(e) in paragraph (d), the relevant period means—

(i) where the worker has not had a prior injury (being a loss of hearing or a further loss of hearing)—in relation to an injury, the period of 5 years immediately preceding the date when a notice is given in respect of the injury,