Need To Recognise Compensation as a Right for Victims of Vibrating White Finger Disease
Keith Rowley, a fitter working at General Kinematics Ltd. complained of suffering from Vibration White Finger disease due to years of working with vibrating devices with his hands. The disease crippled him with severe pain and forced him to wear gloves in cold weather.
Vibration White Finger, or Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome, is an occupational disease, which according to workers’ union GMB, is not limited to a single country or industry. The symptoms include numbness in the hands, loss of natural colour of the skin etc.
There is an existing regulation called the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, which requires companies to take steps to ensure the protection of workers from such diseases by assessing the risk involved.
The company agreed to pay £10,000 as compensation to Rowley in an out-of-court settlement after the workers’ union ordered Thompsons Solicitors, a law firm, to file a suit. However, the company denied any liability for the illness.
Andrea Austin, who is the Legal Administrator at the GMB, said that the illness disables the workers both in their professional and personal life. She stressed on the responsibilities of employers under law to protect employees from this condition. Employers need to provide appropriate training for their employees to reduce both lost time through work related injuries and/or potential employer’s liability claims, this can be achieved by taking an IOSH Health and Safety course from Workplace Law Training.
While many workers have accepted the illness as a part of their life, a representative from Thompsons Solicitors emphasised the need to make them aware that it as an industrial disease. He said that there is an urgent need to protect the workers, and a failure to do so should result in monetary damages, considering the serious effect the illness has on the life of the victims.
