Read about how some victims have made successful compensation claims

Case study 1

Mr W, an engineer living near Sheffield in South Yorkshire was routinely required to use a lathe type machine for turning metal components.

The metal working lathe was not suitable for the type of work that he had to do on the metal components that he worked on, and as a consequence his hands suffered vibration whilst he used the lathe.  Also, he regularly used hand held grinders to complete the work on metal components.

Therefore on a daily basis Mr W's hands suffered unsafe levels of vibration caused by the lathe machine and the grinder which led to symptoms of VWF.  

The works had closed down where Mr W had been employed, but the employers liability insurers were traced and therefore Mr W was able to continue with his claim.  

Mr W successfully recovered £11000 compensation for the VWF and also nerve damage suffered to his fingers. An award of compensation was also made to Mr W because the vibration injury had left him at a disadvantage on the open labour market compared to a similar engineer with his skills who did not have VWF.      

Case study 2

Mr T was a fettler and oundryman who lived and worked in Lincolnshire. Mr T on a daily basis had to use a hand held grinder to clean castings. 

Mr T was not provided with any information about the risk of suffering a vibration injury from vibration caused to his hands whilst working the hand held grinder tool. 

If Mr T had been warned of the symptoms to look out for then he would have told his foreman of the tingling and numbness in his fingers and his duties at work would have been changed.

The foundry had changed ownership a number of times whilst Mr T had been employed at the works, however the relevant employers liability insurance companies were traced and Mr T was paid £16000 compensation in settlement of his claim.            

If your employer has failed to take steps to reduce excessive noise in your working environment or provide protective equipment such as ear defenders etc -  you may be entitled to make a claim.