As reported by Rory O’Neill in the Risks Newsletter:
A 24-year-old crack tester from Doncaster who says he was forced out of his job after vibrating tools permanently damaged his hands has received a £30,000 compensation settlement. Unite member Dean Grice was employed by MSI Forks Ltd, a firm making forks for forklift trucks. He had worked for the firm since 1997. His job required him to grind out defects on the forks using pencil grinders and angle grinders - tools which vibrated in his hands. As a result, he developed hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS - also known as vibration white finger) - a painful condition which causes the fingers to go white and numb - as well as carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes numbness, tingling and pain in the fingers. Mr Grice explained: ‘It was my GP who told me that I had symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome and he referred me to the Doncaster Royal Infirmary. Sadly my employer refused to re-deploy me to a job where I wouldn’t be exposed to vibration so I had no choice but to resign.’ Unite regional secretary Davey Hall said: ‘This is not the first time that an employee of MSI Forks Ltd has suffered from hand arm vibration syndrome. We hope that it will now force them to ensure that correct health and safety procedures are in place.’ The two conditions are commonly associated with work with vibrating tools, and have been the subject of a series of recent industrial disease payouts.
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