Professional musician, Christopher Goldscheider, a viola player in the orchestra at the Royal Opera House (ROH) Covent Garden London had suffered injury to his hearing by the end of the third day of rehearsals of Wagner’s Der Ring der Nibelungen in September 2012 which ended his professional career. He sued for personal injuries against the ROH. After an 8 day trial the judge held that the ROH were responsible for the injury to hearing

The ROH appealed to the Court of Appeal (Goldscheider v Royal Opera House Covent Garden Foundation [2019] EWCA Civ 711). The ROH denied liability. In support of his claim the claimant relied upon The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 and argued that the defendant’s were in breach of the Regulations. Under the regulations an employer must ensure that risk from the exposure of his employees to noise is either eliminated at source or, where this is not reasonably practicable, reduced to as low of a level as is reasonably practicable. The trial judge decided that the defendant could not eliminate the risk from the exposure of noise at source, but steps could have been taken to reduce the risk such as by using hand held noise meters to provide live time readings. Sound meter monitors had recorded exposure to noise levels in excess of 85 dB. Save for the provision of ear plugs left to the discretion of musicians as to when they should be warn, no steps were taken to immediately reduce the noise of the afternoon rehearsal session even when the problem had been brought to the attention of management. The primary consideration of the orchestral configuration at ROH was artistic, to maintain the highest standards and ROH’s reputation. However the Judge said that this cannot compromise the standard of care which the ROH has as an employer to protect the health and safety of its employees. Subsequently after the claimant had gone off sick the orchestra pit was reconfigured with the brass instruments being split up and noise levels were reduced. This did not cause any apparent reduction in the artistic standards of the Ring Cycle.

The Court of Appeal agreed with the trial judge that there had been a breach of the Noise at Work Regulations and that the hearing loss was caused as a result of the breaches. The ROH argued that there was a concern that this would have a knock on effect for all music making in the UK – concerts, theatres, schools, etc. This however was dismissed because most musical venues do not have the problems with limited space and layout as that encountered at ROH where there is an overhang and limited room within which to place musicians. The ROH was also able to put into place a small repositioning of the layout of the orchestra within a matter of days with marked reduction in the sound pressure. The Court of Appeal said that the national and international reputation of the ROH is not and should not be affected by this judgment.