Vibration White Finger Claims
You are probably not too late
Vibration white finger comes from years of using vibrating tools, and the symptoms usually turn up long after the work that caused them. That matters, because the time limit for a claim generally runs from when you connected the problem to your job, not from when you last picked up the tool. We handle vibration white finger and HAVS claims on a No Win No Fee basis.
Regulated solicitors
Years' experience
No Win No Fee
What is vibration white finger?
Vibration white finger is damage to the blood vessels in the fingers caused by using vibrating tools over a long period. The fingers go white and numb, usually starting at the tips, often triggered by cold. Feeling returns painfully as they warm up.
It is part of a wider condition called hand arm vibration syndrome, or HAVS. Vibration white finger is the circulation side of it. HAVS also covers nerve damage, which causes tingling and loss of sensation, and effects on grip strength and the joints. Many people have more than one of these at once, which is why the two names get used interchangeably.
The damage does not reverse. What treatment and a change of work can do is stop it getting worse, which is the main reason not to wait once symptoms start.
Vibration white finger symptoms
Symptoms creep up over years, which is why people put them down to age or the weather. If several of these sound familiar, it is worth getting checked.
Fingers turning white
Usually the tips first, often in cold or wet weather, then red and painful as they warm up.
Numbness and tingling
Pins and needles that linger after work, or hands that feel dead first thing in the morning.
Losing your grip
Dropping tools, mugs or keys, and struggling with buttons, laces or coins.
Loss of feeling
Not being able to tell hot from cold, or feel small objects properly by touch.
Pain and aching
In the fingers, hands and forearms, often worse at night and disturbing sleep.
Attacks getting longer
More fingers affected, more often, and taking longer to recover than they used to.
Doctors grade how far the condition has progressed using a recognised scale, which looks at how many fingers are affected and how much of each one. That grading matters to a claim, because it is the clearest measure of what the work has cost you.
You are probably not too late
Almost everyone who rings us about vibration white finger opens by apologising for leaving it so long. They used the tools in the nineties, or left the trade fifteen years ago, and assume the door shut a long time ago.
That is not how the time limit works for a condition like this one. There is no accident date to count from. For illnesses that build up over years, the three years generally runs from the point at which you first realised your symptoms were connected to your work, which for most people is when a doctor said so. If that was recent, your claim may well be in time even if the exposure ended decades ago.
Claims are also still possible against employers who no longer exist. Companies were required to hold employers’ liability insurance, and the insurer who was on cover at the time can often be traced. Do not rule yourself out because the firm you worked for closed down.
the daily vibration level at which your employer had to act
Under the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005, an exposure action value of 2.5 m/s² over an eight-hour day obliges an employer to bring exposure down and to put health surveillance in place. There is a hard ceiling, the exposure limit value, at 5.0 m/s². Many claims turn on whether anyone ever measured this, and on whether the checks that should have caught your symptoms early were ever carried out.
Source: Health and Safety Executive guidance on the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005.
Tools and trades behind most vibration white finger claims
If you spent years on any of these, and your hands have changed, the two are worth connecting.
Construction and demolition
Breakers, jackhammers, drills, needle guns and compactors. The highest-exposure work of all.
Engineering and manufacturing
Grinders, sanders, impact wrenches, riveting tools and hand-held polishers on a production line.
Forestry and groundwork
Chainsaws, strimmers, hedge trimmers and mowers, often used outdoors in the cold, which makes it worse.
Road and rail maintenance
Tampers, breakers and track tools, frequently on night shifts with long stretches of continuous use.
Mining and quarrying
Rock drills and picks. Historic exposure here is behind a great many claims brought years after the event.
Motor and plant repair
Air tools, impact guns and cut-off saws used daily across a working life in a garage or depot.
What makes it a claim is not the tool but what your employer did about it: whether exposure was measured and limited, whether you were told the risk, whether rotation and breaks were arranged, and whether anyone checked your hands.
What vibration white finger
compensation covers
There is no set figure and no calculator can work one out, because what matters is how far the condition has progressed and what it has taken from you. Two people with the same diagnosis can be in very different positions depending on their trade and their age.
Vibration white finger compensation has two parts. General damages cover the condition itself, graded on the recognised medical scale. Special damages cover what it has cost you, and on these claims that is often the larger figure, because the condition frequently ends a career in the trade someone spent their life in.
- The condition itself and how far it has progressed
- Lost earnings, and a career you can no longer do
- Retraining for work that does not need your hands
- Help with jobs at home you can no longer manage
- Treatment, equipment and the things you have stopped doing
Vibration white finger is also a prescribed industrial disease, so it may be worth checking whether you qualify for Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit separately from any claim.
Evidence that supports a vibration white finger claim
There is no accident report here and no witnesses to a moment, because nothing happened in a moment. A VWF claim is built on your working history and your medical records instead.
Cannot remember the dates? Almost nobody can. We reconstruct employment history as a matter of routine, and we arrange the medical assessment.
No Win No Fee vibration
white finger claims
Where a claim can be taken on this basis, you can start without paying anything upfront. If the claim is not successful, you will not pay a fee for our work, subject to the terms of your agreement.
If it succeeds, a success fee agreed with you in advance is deducted from your compensation, and insurance is usually arranged to cover the other side’s costs. You will see the percentage in writing before you sign anything.
Asking whether you have a claim commits you to nothing, and there is no cold calling afterwards.
Vibration white finger claims
your questions answered
The questions we are asked most, answered plainly.
I stopped using the tools years ago. Am I too late to claim?
Very possibly not. There is no accident date on a claim like this, so the three years generally runs from when you first connected your symptoms to your work, usually when a doctor told you. If that happened recently, the claim may still be in time even though the exposure ended decades ago. It is worth one phone call to find out rather than assuming.
Can I claim if the company I worked for no longer exists?
Usually, yes. Employers were required to carry employers’ liability insurance, and the claim is brought against the insurer who was on cover at the time rather than against the business itself. Those insurers can often be traced even where the company was wound up years ago. Tell us who you worked for and roughly when, and we will look.
What is the difference between vibration white finger and HAVS?
Hand-arm vibration syndrome is the umbrella term. Vibration white finger is the circulation part of it, the whitening and the cold attacks. HAVS also covers nerve damage, which causes numbness and tingling, and effects on grip and the joints. Most people who have one have some of the others too, which is why the terms often get used as though they mean the same thing. A HAVS claim and a vibration white finger claim are handled the same way.
Is this the same as the old miners' compensation scheme?
No. There was a government scheme handling vibration white finger claims from former coal miners, and people still search for it. That is separate from an ordinary claim against a former employer, which is what this page is about. If you were a miner and think you may have missed the scheme, say so when you call and we will explain where you stand
Will claiming cause trouble if I still work there?
You should not be treated unfairly for bringing a genuine claim, and it helps to know the money comes from your employer’s insurer rather than out of the company’s pocket. Plenty of people claim while still employed. If you are worried about how it would go down, tell us and we will talk through the practicalities before anything is started.
How much compensation could I get for vibration white finger?
There is no set amount and no online calculator can value it, because it depends on how far the condition has progressed and what it has cost you. A specialist grades the severity on a recognised scale, and that assessment, along with your earnings and work history, is what the claim is built on. Your solicitor will explain what yours should include once that evidence is in.
Find out where you stand
Tell us what happened and how you have been since. We will explain which route applies to you, what it would involve, and whether it is worth pursuing. If it is not, we will say so.
- Free, confidential and without obligation
- No Win No Fee available
- SRA-regulated solicitors
Check if you can make a claim
Takes less than 60 seconds
Other claims we handle
Ask before you rule yourself out
Most people who call us had already decided they had left it too long, or that the company was gone so nothing could be done. Often neither is true. The conversation is free and puts you under no obligation.
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