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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.
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Road Traffic Accidents – Roundabouts
It seems no surprise that we are getting an increasing amount of road traffic accident claims. One reason for this could be the increasing amount of traffic on the roads, with many people not paying the necessary care and attention.
One accident hotspot that I will discuss in this blog is that of roundabouts. Many people can find roundabouts difficult to navigate and nerve wracking to tackle – especially some of the larger ones. If someone is not completely sure of where they are going and are unsure of which exit to take, and which lane to be in, this can be understandable – but it is sometimes these people who cause many of the accidents on our roundabouts.
Accidents can occur on a roundabout for a number of reasons – some of which I list below:
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I am all too aware of the dangers of the motorway, due to driving almost 70 miles a day to and from work! It is on these journeys that I have witnessed the aftermath of many accidents, and so come to write this blog today. Being such a frequent user of the motorway, I know that most of the time motorway journeys are uneventful and safe; however, with my experience of working in a personal injury law firm, I know that there are a small minority of drivers where this has not been the case.
Accidents can occur on motorways for many reasons – I have listed some of these reasons below:
- Driving too closely to the car in front and not taking heed of the traffic slowing down ahead.
- Not realising their junction is coming up soon and so cutting across a multitude of lanes to exit the motorway.
- Merging lanes without completing the proper checks, and so colliding with another vehicle.
- Undertaking – i.e. overtaking cars in a faster lane
If you are looking at this blog you may be considering making an accident at work claim. At The Injury Lawyers, we know making a claim against your employer can be a challenging task to perform; however, our advice is that you can instruct lawyers to fight your corner and act on your behalf. Employers should also have insurance in place to deal with these types of situations – the insurers will investigate and come to a conclusion whether your employer was at fault – and if so, how much you should be fairly recompensed for that failure.
There are a number of areas of safety which your employer should consider:
Personal Protective Equipment
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It is an unfortunate fact that the number of road traffic accidents are increasing. A major reason for this may be that there is an increased amount of traffic on the roads, together with people having busier lives – being in a rush and not taking the necessary care and attention when it comes to driving safely.
After suffering a road accident, you may think that it is too much hassle and bother to begin a claim for personal injury. However, this simply does not have to be the case, and there can be many reasons why bringing a claim for your road accident is beneficial:
A new, faster system
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Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE as it is more informally known, is equipment which can be used or worn to protect you against risks to your health and safety. PPE is something which you should not pay for – your employer should not even ask you for a contribution. They are solely responsible for supplying it to you.
It should be of note that PPE should only be used as a last port of call where no other methods act just as well, or better, at protecting you from risks to your health and safety at work. So, if your employer is giving you PPE in order to save money as a better method of protection is more costly, this is wrong.
Your employer has a duty to protect you as much as possible from risks to your health and safety. By simply providing you with the PPE, this is not fully completing their duty – they must also train their employees in how to use it and ensure it is maintained regularly and stored correctly. Employers must also consider whether the PPE causes a danger in itself – by this I mean if there a chance of overheating whilst wearing or using PPE, or if your PPE could get caught up in machinery.
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Repetitive Strain Injury Claims
A Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI as it is informally known, is an umbrella term which can cover a whole host of injuries. The injuries it covers are those which are caused by the repetitive use of parts of the body.
It is an extremely prevalent disorder affecting as many as 1 in 50 workers. This comes as no surprise, as not only can it affect manual workers, but also those desk workers who are typing away all day long.
The Types of RSI
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The Telegraph has recently reported that a study by The Association of British Insurers has shown that 1,200 claims for whiplash are made every day, which equates to three-quarters of personal injury claims in the United Kingdom, and is six times as many claims as those for accidents at work.
In fact, it is the United Kingdom which sees the largest volume of whiplash claims within Europe. As a result, the Telegraph writes that the NHS spends approximately £8million a year helping people with whiplash injuries, and insurances companies are paying out an estimated £2billion a year in compensation for these whiplash injuries.
So – what is whiplash? Whiplash is normally a neck, back, and shoulder injury caused by the soft tissue in the spine being forcefully jerked – e.g. from the impact of being hit behind by another person’s motor vehicle. So, how do I know if you have whiplash? Here are the common symptoms:
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Can a child bring a claim for compensation? On their own, no. With a litigation friend, yes. So – what is a litigation friend?
Where a person has suffered an injury and they are under the age of 18, they are required by law to have a litigation friend to conduct their claim on their behalf. A litigation friend is therefore a responsible adult who acts on a minor’s (a person under the age of 18) behalf. In most cases a litigation friend will be a child’s parents or guardians; but equally it could be a family friend or some other trustworthy adult.
The law recognises that a child of the age of say four or five may have a genuine claim for compensation having been injured through no fault of their own, but that this child does not have the capacity to proceed with a claim on their own. In other words, a child does not have the ‘legal capacity’ to conduct legal proceedings. This is also similarly applied to persons deemed a ‘protected party’ under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. They too will require a litigation friend to conduct their claim for them.
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At The Injury Lawyers, we have a huge number of clients suffering from the symptoms of whiplash. We hear on a daily basis of the pain the condition causes, and the devastating effect the injury can have on all areas of a person’s life. That is why we treat whiplash with the utmost seriousness and give it the importance it deserves.
Causes
Whiplash is caused by a sudden jolting to the neck, which causes it to move beyond its normal range. This can lead to damage to the tendons, ligaments, and muscles in the neck area, causing the condition.
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