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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