A SAFETY supervisor who was badly injured by the back blast of an anti-tank weapon during a military exercise had shouted out not to fire the weapon.

The soldier involved could not hear the order because of ear protectors issued to all troops to fend off so-called army deafness claims.

A health and safety investigation into the incident has now been launched and separate inquiries are underway by the military into what happened.

The ear protection being used was introduced in response to thousands of claims from soldiers for hearing loss suffered from firing weapons.

The army deafness saga may now have claimed its first casualty after the lieutenant was injured at the Glen of Imaal, army sources said.

The military source said soldiers had lobbied for the introduction of "active" hearing protection, which would drown out loud noise but allow soldiers to hear conversation or orders.

The source said: "They were not purchased because they were expensive and would have cost considerably more than ordinary hearing protection. Obviously, it is something that was looked at, but was ruled out on cost grounds. This incident is the first time we have paid the price for that decision."

Army spokesman captain Pat O'Connor said: "There is a health and safety investigation ongoing in order to answer the exact questions [that have been raised]… and in order to see if there are areas we can improve or if the safety precautions we have are sufficient.

"I wouldn't like to second guess what recommendations might come out of it or what the circumstances were on the day of the incident."

The injured lieutenant, a trained live-fire tactical-training safety supervisor, had got caught in the dangerous blast zone behind the weapon

She suffered burn injuries to her face, arms and legs and was hit by shrapnel, which left her requiring more than 80 stitches.

Although expected back to work early next month, army sources said she was lucky to escape with mainly superficial injuries, most of which have now healed.