Excerpts from ChicagoTribune.com:
George Beary, a retired Chicago firefighter who served for 38 years, used to hear the loud emergency sirens every day while riding on the back of fire trucks. Since retiring in 2005, he has struggled with tinnitus—a persistent ringing or buzzing in the ears. As the chairman of a committee for retired firefighters in Chicago, Beary is one of around 4,400 current and former firefighters across the U.S. who have filed lawsuits against Federal Signal, a company based in Oak Brook that produces sirens.
Beary, who once served as vice president of the Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, claims that Federal Signal didn’t do enough to make sirens safer for those working on firetrucks. Since 1999, he and approximately 700 other Chicago firefighters have taken legal action. While some cases have been settled or decided, about 500 are still pending.
The firefighters argue that Federal Signal could have designed sirens in a way that reduces noise exposure in areas where firefighters sit inside the truck. Lawyers say the sound levels can reach up to 120 decibels—similar to a rock concert—which can be harmful over time.
Federal Signal, however, maintains that directing the siren’s sound away from firefighters would undermine its main purpose: to alert drivers and pedestrians of an approaching emergency vehicle. The company also emphasizes that it has long recommended firefighters wear ear protection, which many departments have advised as a standard practice.
David Duffy, an attorney representing Federal Signal, claims that studies show the average noise level firefighters are exposed to during their shifts—including sirens—is below 85 decibels, which is considered safe under federal guidelines.
The lawsuits, which began gaining attention over a decade ago, have spread across several major cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey, and the Chicago area. Marc Bern, the attorney leading the cases, says that in most of the half-dozen or so trials that have gone to court, juries have ruled in favor of Federal Signal.
The company has also reached settlements in some cases without admitting fault. One of the largest was in 2011, when Federal Signal paid $3.6 million to 1,069 firefighters from Philadelphia.
While federal noise standards take into account both the intensity and duration of exposure, experts like Rick Neitzel, a researcher at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, point out that these standards were originally designed for traditional industrial jobs, not for firefighting, where exposure is often intermittent but extremely loud and prolonged.
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