Dark Satanic Mills

Many people when they get to a certain age start to wonder where they came from. That was certainly true for me so a few years ago I started to research my family tree. Although there were a few surprises my research confirmed that I my family were ordinary workers. I wanted to find out

Noise and hearing

The looms have made McDermott deaf. Well not deaf exactly, but they have changed sound, damaged sound, so that sometimes spoken words seem to come from the bottom of a well, and others have halos around them, gauzy halos that slur sound. This passage, from Anita Shreve’s novel “Sea Glass” , which I finished recently,

Selecting ear defenders

The use of personal protection should always be the last resort when looking for ways to control health and safety risks. Although this principle applies to ear defenders as much as any other type of PPE, it’s difficult to avoid their use in many industries where exposure to noise can be difficult to control, at