e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@deadline.demon.co.uk
Tens of thousands of miners and industrial workers could benefit from another defeat for British Coal in the Court of Appeal. They are men whose fingers and hands have been damaged by using drills, hammers, cutters and other vibrating power tools. Up to 25,000 coal miners will benefit directly from the decision which was given against British Coal by three Court of Appeal judges in July. And workers in other industries will also benefit if they now take action against their former employers.
The Lord Justices were considering nine test cases referred to them from the High Court in Newcastle where the men had been awarded total damages ranging from more than £5000 to just over £50,000 for the injuries they had received. British Coal appealed - saying it was not liable and even if it was the damages were too high. The appeal was taken over and supported by the Government in January 1998. But the three Appeal Court judges had little hesitation in throwing the government's case out - it won on just two small points which did not affect the judgement or significantly reduce the damages awarded. As a result of this case anyone who used a vibrating tool in the coal industry at any time since 1 January 1975 could now be owed compensation.
Men like Alexander Burrell. Now aged 74, Alexander started working in the coal industry before the war, as a fourteen-year-old apprentice blacksmith. In 1941 he was sent down the pits. And that’s where he stayed.
"I had the choice when the war finished, go out on pit top, but I’d got used to it down pit and the money were better. So I stayed down. I worked at Brodsworth mine, near Doncaster. I was on drifting - drifting down from one seam to a new one. That's where you used the vibrating machines, the boring machines and then the cutting machines. They could have made it safer, definitely. They never warned us. Only when I’d practically finished they decided to provide gloves and there were never enough you’d come off shift and pass them to another man. You knew there were dangers of course but people were ignorant of what to do. But you had to keep a family so you had to go to work whether you liked it or lumped it."
Alexander worked with vibrating equipment for nearly 30 years until the late 1970s with no gloves, no warnings and no protection. The effects are now severe.
"If I grip anything I get cramp and a tingling in my fingers especially when it's cold. I can’t write properly, can’t grip the pen. I used to play darts, but I had to pack that up. I could throw it all right but I couldn’t grip it. Sometimes you grip something you can’t even feel it's in your hand. I can’t do any work in the house or the garden any more, I enjoyed my gardening but I can’t control things I hold now. I can’t even carry anything. It's not painful all the time but most of the time yes."
Andrew Tucker from solicitors Irwin Mitchell is one of the team of lawyers who took the test cases. He says the judgement was clear - the injuries of Alexander Burrell and 25,000 others was due to negligence by British Coal - there are safer ways of working with vibrating tools which they ignored.
"The court found that the Government is liable for this disease which was caused by their employment. They could have put in place a system of medical surveillance to identify the tingling and redness at the finger ends. If it's caught early it is not permanent. They should have coupled that with warnings telling the men that if the symptoms were ignored they could lead to permanent injury. Finally, they should have introduced job rotation. There is a lot of work underground that doesn’t involve these tools. Instead, the men worked in a gang and one guy often did all the drilling."
When the case went to the High Court in 1995, Judge Stephenson put a clear timetable on what it should have done.
Lord Justice Judge, dismissing the appeals of British Coal against liability, said
"During the course of the hearing they [British Coal] conceded that they never appreciated, and did nothing to minimise or prevent, the risk which they should have recognised by January 1973 and that they had not taken the precautions [they] should have taken by January 1975 and January 1976."
The evidence showed that British Coal ignored these safer ways of working for at least another ten years.
The nine miners who took the test cases were awarded damages ranging from £5000 to £14,000 for the pain and suffering caused by the disease and in some cases far more than that for the loss of pension rights and future wages. The most severely injured was Mr Wright, aged 56 he stopped working for British Coal ten years ago. Lord Justice Judge describes his symptoms
"When exposed to a drop in temperature...all ten digits became white and numb, then as circulation returns, significant, sometimes excruciating, pain develops...so outdoor activity is difficult."
Gardening, fishing, even walking the dog are almost impossible for him. He was awarded £14,000 for his pain and suffering. But even the miners with milder forms of the disease were awarded at least £5000. These amounts set new standards for damages, up to five times as much as some previous awards. Andrew Tucker is pleased
"It is the important end of the legal road. Benchmarks for the amount of damages have been set for different jobs, different severity, different social circumstances."
Long before solicitors were involved, the driving force behind the cases was Blethyn Hancock, the general secretary of the National Association of Colliery Overmen, Deputies, and Shotfirers - Nacods - in Wales. Regular readers will remember his role in an earlier victory over British Coal on behalf of 50,000 miners with chest diseases ('The Price of Coal" Saga Magazine March 1998). He is, of course, delighted by the victory. But is appalled at the Labour Government.
"The case sets a new and higher tariff, a new going rate if you like. We don't think they are over-generous by any means for pain and suffering. It will help people in other industries get proper compensation. But I was absolutely disgusted that the Labour Government decided to appeal. They wasted a small fortune in taxpayers' money for no legal gain and no real financial gain. The only motive I can see is to drag the legal battle on while possible claimants die off."
Although the legal battle is over, the war is not yet finished. Now the Government must be forced to pay people. So far, out of the potential 25,000 claimants just 107 have been given an interim payment of £1000. Out of a final bill estimated at up to £500 million just £107,000 has been paid out. No-one can say when the full payments will be made. But the continuing delays in paying miners with chest disease, who won their case in January, is not encouraging. Only 6600 out of 50,000 men have been given an interim payment of just £2000. Blethyn Hancock is scathing
"It is eight months since the Government lost in court in January on the chest diseases case. The Government was supposed to come up with a scheme to pay them out. We had to go back to court in July to get the judge to order them to come up with a scheme by September 4 and come back to court on October 1. If they have failed he will impose a scheme himself. It is high time the Labour Government gave their representatives the power to settle this fairly."
A spokesman for the Department of Trade and Industry told Saga Magazine
"These are unique cases. We need a robust mechanism so that valid claims can be met fairly and that is seen to be fair to everyone. We are putting in place a scheme as quickly as we can and making interim payments to the most severe cases."
October 1998
Although Vibration White Finger is a recognised industrial disease, the rules for getting any industrial injuries disablement benefit are very strict. But the court case is quite separate from that. Whether you have or have not been able to get industrial disablement benefit in the past, you may be able to get compensation from British Coal or your employer.
Irwin Mitchell 0114 276 7777
Hugh James 0800 393 081
Thompsons 0800 378 067
Their advice and help should not cost you anything. They can also advise about bringing a case against any employer for any industrial disease.
e-mail Paul Lewis on paul@deadline.demon.co.uk