Actually these reasoned arguments have made me think again, indeed it is the responsibility of an employer to ensure the health and safety of its employees, hmmmm. I suppose adequate warnings about noise and adequate ear protection could have been issued and recommended, from then in it could be the employees risk if they wish to take it. I suppose it is a shock to me because it seems obvious that loud environments carry a risk and although I am wholly behind a culture of health and safety I also feel that people, generally, are less and less inclined to take responsibility for their actions and choices. If the orchestra was causing hearing damage due to neglect or exceeding some kind of recognised volume limit (it may well have done, I am no expert in this field) then fair enough and I suppose there has to be a first in defining laws and regulation in certain fields. As I said it’s just the trend for abdication of personal responsility that worries me, perhaps it’s an entirely different matter?