Vibration white finger and "unjustifiable" surveillance of claimants
The Department of Trade and Industry, now known as the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR), has come in for sharp words from a prominent government watchdog for "unjustifiable" surveillance of coalminers claiming for industrial injuries such as vibration white finger (VWF) and emphysema.
Chief surveillance commissioner Sir Andrew Leggatt had stern words for BERR, commenting that they risked facing compensation claims for invasion of privacy in their sometimes over-zealous attempts to weed out fraudulent vibration white finger claims and the like.
Sir Leggatt warned that BERR's checks for ensuring the civil liberties of investigated claimants were "deficient", and added that a number of surveillance operations, such as the one in which a miner was spied on even after his industrial illness claim had been turned down, were "difficult to justify".
In the wake of the revelations a spokesperson for BERR commented, "It is occasionally necessary for the department to carry out non-intrusive surveillance, notably in relation to some coal health compensation claims and certain investigations. This surveillance is infrequent but is from time to time essential where criminal conduct is suspected."
What is vibration white finger?
VWF, also known as Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), is usually caused by many years working with excessively vibrating machinery. It causes numbness, tingling and whiteness, usually in the extremities of the body, and may eventually lead to loss of function.
These symptoms are caused by damage to nerves and blood vessels and may affect as many as one in ten people who work with vibrating machinery.
BERRs investigations
BERRs investigations focus on people who are making claims for industrial illnesses under the UK's largest ever industrial compensation program. So far, nearly £4 billion has been paid out to over 600,000 affected miners.
UK-leading industrial injury lawyers
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Win or lose, when dealing with this kind of claim we work on a completely cost-free basis and guarantee all successful claims, as the large majority of ours are, 100% compensation.
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To contact us, all you need do is have an echat, fill out a claim form, request a callback from one of our advisors, or call us now on 0800 10 757 95. We look forward to giving your vibration white finger claim its very best chance of success.
