Stuart Deans V. George Newberrys Coachbuilders
| Jurisdiction | Scotland |
| Judge | Sheriff J.C. Morris, Q.C. |
| Court | Sheriff Court |
| Date | 13 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | A639/03 |
| Published date | 07 December 2005 |
SHERIFFDOM OF SOUTH STRATHCLYDE DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY
A639/03
| JUDGMENT OF SHERIFF J C MORRIS, Q.C. | ||
| in the cause | ||
| STUART DEANS | ||
| Pursuer | ||
| Against | ||
| GEORGE NEWBERRY COACHBUILDERS | ||
| Defenders |
Act: Mr Conway, Solicitor
Alt: Mr Marney, Advocate
AIRDRIE: 13 September 2005
The Sheriff, having resumed consideration of the cause, finds in fact as follows:
1That the pursuer is Stuart Deans (hereinafter referred to as the pursuer), he is thirty-eight years old and resides at 14 Cockridge Road, Lanark with his partner of some nine years, Eilidh McQueen.
2That the defenders are George Newberry Coachbuilders (hereinafter referred to as the defenders), they were a firm of coachbuilders who had a place of business at Unit 5, Northburn Road, Coatbridge. In 2001 the firm was bought over by Gartsherrie Engineering and is no longer in existence. The George Newberry of George Newberry Coachbuilders is the pursuer's uncle.
3That the pursuer is a coachbuilder to trade and he is currently employed by J.W.R. Coachworks in Coatbridge as the coachworks manager although from time to time he still engages in manual coachbuilding.
4That the pursuer began his apprenticeship as a coachbuilder initially with Stuart Robertson (1981 - 1983) a firm which repaired caravans and completed his apprenticeship with Coachwork Services in Calderbank, a firm which built commercial vehicles. The pursuer has no formal qualifications but is recognised as a time-served coachbuilder.
5That from 1986 to 1988 the pursuer worked as a coachbuilder for Commercial Coachwork Services in Hillington, a firm which built commercial vehicles.
6That in 1988 the pursuer joined the defenders as a coachbuilder and he remained with them until 2002 by which time the firm had been taken over by Gartsherrie Engineering, aforesaid. He left to join his present employers in January 2002. The pursuer was therefore employed by the defenders from 1988 until 2002. The pursuer did not leave his employment with the defenders for health reasons.
7That during his employment with the defenders the pursuer worked a thirty-nine hour week and he regularly worked overtime between four and ten hours depending on circumstances.
8That during his working life from 1981 until 2002, with the exception of his time at Stuart Robertson (1981 - 1983), the pursuer used vibrating tools such as impact wrenches, angle grinders, electric saws and electric drills on a regular basis.
9 That circa 1995 or 1996 the pursuer began to experience tingling and numbness in the fingers of his left hand and he also noticed blanching at the tips of his fingers (ie, his fingers turned white). Gradually these symptoms spread to all the fingers of both hands. His thumbs were not affected. The pursuer's condition was not constant it came in the form of attacks, especially when exposed to cold weather or cold circumstances. On occasions he would experience slight difficulty in performing certain tasks at work.
10That, prompted by his partner, the pursuer attended his General Practitioner, Dr Criggie, Lanark Health Centre, on 08 September 1999. Dr Criggie was of the view that the pursuer was suffering from "Vibration White Finger" but he also queried osteoarthritis and repetitive strain syndrome. He referred the pursuer to Law Hospital for a blood test and X-rays, both of which proved negative.
11That apart from discussing the matter with his father, a former miner, the pursuer took no further action regarding his condition. He did not seek further medical advice and he did not inform the defenders that he might be suffering from Vibration White Finger (hereinafter referred to as VWF). He assumed that he had VWF and accepted it as, "just going with the job."
12That VWF, (properly known as Vibration Induced White Finger but still referred to as VWF) is a vascular disorder which causes impaired blood circulation in affected fingers and parts of the hand causing them to blanch (turn white) and causing neurological damage leading to numbness and tingling. This can lead to reduced grip strength and manual dexterity.
13That VWF is known in modern parlance as Hand/Arm Vibration Syndrome (hereinafter referred to as "HAVS"). The condition is caused by exposure to vibration from hand operated vibrating tools over a period of years.
14That HAVS is a progressive condition. Asymptomatic damage worsens as a result of exposure to vibration until it becomes symptomatic. The condition has a vascular and a neurological/sensorineural component. The condition is dose related, ie., the more vibration to which a person is exposed the greater the damage that may be caused.
15That in the first stages of a vibration injury there is a tingling sensation or "pins and needles" in a finger or the fingers. With continued exposure a person may suffer periodic attacks during which the fingers change colour when exposed to cold. Initially the whiteness and numbness will only affect the tips of the fingers, but if the condition progresses the whole finger down to the knuckle can be affected. As the condition progresses attacks can occur outside the workplace and are generally triggered by cold.
- That the extent of the disease is measured by reference to two scales -
1Taylor Pelmear Scale:
| Reading | Condition of digit | Work and Social Interference |
| Grade 0 | No blanching of digits | No complaints |
| Grade OT | Intermittent tingling | No interference with activities |
| Grade 0N | Intermittent numbness | No interference with activities |
| Grade OTN | Tingling and numbness | No interference with activities |
| Grading 1 | Blanching of one or more fingertips with or without tingling and numbness | Interference with activities |
| Grading 2 | Blanching of one or more fingers with numbness. Usually confined to winter | Slight interference with home and social activities. No interference at work |
| Grading 3 | Extensive blanching. Frequent episodes summer as well as winter. | Definite interference at work at home and with social activities. Restriction of hobbies. |
| Scale Grading 4 | Extensive blanching. Most fingers: frequent episodes summer and winter. | Occupation changed to avoid further vibration exposure because of severity of signs and symptoms |
2The Stockholm Scale:
The Stockholm Scale considers both components of the disease, ie., the vascular and the sensorineural (or neurological):
Vascular Component
| Stage | Grade | Description |
| 0 | No attacks | |
| 1E | Mild | Occasional attacks affecting only the tips of one or more of the fingers |
| 2v | Moderate | Occasional attacks affecting distal and middle (rarely also proximal) phalanges of one or more fingers |
| 3v | Severe | Frequent attacks affecting all phalanges of most fingers |
| 4v | Very severe | As in stage 3 with trophic changes in the fingertips |
Sensorineural Component
| Stage | Description | |
| 0SN | Vibration exposed but no symptoms | |
| 1SN | Intermittent numbness with or without tingling | |
| 2SN | Intermittent and persistent numbness, reduced sensory perception | |
| 3SN | Intermittent or persistent numbness reduced tactile discrimination/or manipulative dexterity |
(See Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians - Report of Working Party on Hand Transmitted Vibration: Clinical Effects and Pathoephysiology 1993 - see process no 5/2/5 of process)
As it is recognised by the medical establishment that both these scales have their limitations the more modern Stockholm graduation is preferred because it recognises the two components of the disease.
17That if HAVS is identified at an early stage the condition is reversible, either by cessation of exposure to vibration or regulation of that exposure. But due to the probability that the symptoms at an early stage will be so slight, it is unlikely that the sufferer will realise that he/she is suffering from a work related disease or a disease at all.
18That the vibration of a particular tool is measured as its frequency weighted vibration acceleration in metres per second squared (m/s2 - is actually m/s -2 but it can be conveniently referred to in the positive).
19That when a tool vibrates it does so along three axes ie., x, y and z axes. Initially when vibration was measured the dominant axis was chosen to display the vibration magnitude of the tool (eg. if a tool vibrated at 3 m/s2 on the x axis, at 2 m/s2 on the y axis at 1 m/s2 on the z axis then the x axis would be chosen as the dominant axis because its vibration was the largest, and the tool would be given reading of 3 m/s2). The modern theory is that the vibration should be measured by adding the magnitude of vibration on each of the three axes.
20That vibration from a vibrating tool is transferred from that tool to the hands of the operator. Vibration occurs and so passes to the operator's hands both when the tool is in contact with the work piece ("anger time") and when the tool is operating but not in contact with the work piece ("idling time"). The sum of "anger time" and "idling time" is known as "trigger time." (Certain tools, eg., electric drills, impact wrenches are generally only switched on at the point of usage and have therefore no idling time). Other tools such as angle-grinders are routinely carried by the operator between work pieces while still running thereby incurring idling time.
21That vibrating power tools are used by coachbuilders. During his working life as a coachbuilder the pursuer regularly used vibrating power tools. During his employment with the defenders the pursuer regularly used vibrating power tools. In particular, he regularly used electric drills, chop saws angle grinders (both 9" and 4"), pop rivet guns, a Monobolt gun and on occasions he used air huckbolt guns. All these tools produce vibration to some degree.
22That during his employment with the defenders the pursuer was routinely involved in constructing curtain-sided vehicles, box vans, panel vans, Luton vans and occasionally he...
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