Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome

Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome

Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), also know as Vibration White Finger, affects thousands of people each year.  It is an industrial disease and is normally found in people who have been exposed to large amounts of vibrations in their hands and/or arms.  The typical effects of this disease is for the sufferer to feel a sort of numbness in their fingers; in particularly severe cases, their fingers may turn white.  Worse still, the sufferer could lose all feeling in the affected hand, or their whole hand may actually turn white, or they may lose their fingers.  If you believe you have any of these symptoms, it would be wise to firstly consult a doctor – should you be diagnosed with HAVS, get in touch with a quality injury lawyer who will be able to advise you as to any potential claim you may have.

The people who tend to suffer from HAVS are manual labourers who are exposed to vibrations on a daily basis, having handled vibrating hand tools, such as chainsaws or drills, for prolonged periods of time.  If your professional injury lawyer believes you may have a claim for compensation, it will be because they believe that your employer has allowed you to be too frequently exposed to vibrations. 

It is interesting to know that in the last seven years the Government has paid compensation in a sum of £100m to those who have contracted HAVS.  Furthermore, in 1997 one case saw seven coal miners being awarded over £125,000 in compensation each having suffered HAVS as a result of their working activities.

The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 states that an employer must protect their employees from over-exposure to vibrations.  In other words, they have a duty of care to an employee to limit their exposure to vibrations.  In reality, this means that if you frequently use vibrating tools, you should be allowed regular breaks and a change of activities to ensure that the vibrations you feel are not over a substantial period of time.

One report has suggested that roughly 1 in 10 people who are exposed to vibrations when using work tools will end up suffering HAVS.  If you have HAVS and believe that your employer did not do enough to prevent you from suffering from HAVS, contact a quality injury lawyer today who will be able to give you some free legal advice s to whether you have a claim or not. 

Quality injury lawyers have years of experience in dealing with these types of claims, and will be able to assess whether your employer has breached their duty of care.  Why not give the The Injury Lawyers a call today – what’s the worst that can happen?