£10,000 Compensation for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Caused by Work

Client Situation

Our client, Michael Birks, started working for world-renowned TATA Steel in Rotherham as a Temp Operative in 2010 and then took up a permanent role as a ladleman a year later. A ladleman’s position is to pour and regulate the flow of molten steel into moulds to produce ingots, or other castings of metal. The ladleman would do this by using ladles, to control the movement of the molten metals. The ladelman was however also required to use vibrating tools including hammer chisels to chip off residual solidified metal from the equipment. In 2013, Mr Birks began to experience symptoms in his right hand, including pins and needles – usually when he was driving long distances or gripping cutlery hard.

Since the symptoms would disappear in a few seconds, he never gave them much thought and didn’t see a doctor. In December 2013, he was assessed for Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS), often called vibration white finger, by an occupational health advisor. According to the Health and Safety Executive, HAVS is serious and disabling, and nearly 2 million people in the UK are at risk.

Mr Birks mentioned to the health advisor the pins and needles he’d been experiencing, but only because he was specifically asked about it, and he insisted they weren’t problematic. The occupational health advisor was satisfied he didn’t have HAVS and suggested the pins and needles may be due to an old fracture. He was therefore passed as fit to continue to work with vibrating tools and carried on using them as before.

In January 2015, Mr Birks underwent another HAVS assessment at work, and again reported his pins and needles and was told again everything was normal. But, following this assessment, his symptoms started to get rapidly worse, and he began struggling with gripping and lifting with his right hand, and started getting pins and needles through the night.

During this period, Mr Birks was no longer allowed to operate overhead cranes at work due to medication he was taking at the time, and therefore he did a lot more work using vibrating equipment. But after using the vibrating tools for a few minutes, he would experience weakness and pain in his right hand, and he would then use his left hand a lot more when using the equipment. The symptoms in his right hand subsequently got worse which resulted in him switching to his left hand, and as a result of this symptoms began in his left hand..

Mr Birks hadn’t gone to the GP before as the pins and needles hadn’t been a problem, and Occupational Health advisors had told him they were nothing to worry about but in April 2015, the symptoms had got so much worse that he decided to see his doctor. The GP and hospital later confirmed he had Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both hands, but much worse on the right, so he had surgery on his right wrist in October 2015.

Doctors suggested that his Carpal Tunnel Syndrome may have been related to his work, and this was the first time he made the connection between the symptoms he was experiencing and his job. Following the surgery, Mr Birks went back to work on light duties, but it wasn’t long before he was back using the vibrating tools again as before.

He left TATA Steel in early 2016 and since leaving, his symptoms have improved massively. He hardly has any symptoms in his left hand and therefore hasn’t needed a further operation. It was after leaving the company that he decided to claim compensation for an industrial illness, which is when he reached out to our team.