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Neutral Citation Number:
Reported Number:	R(I)1/06
File Number:	CI 207 2004
Appellant:	Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Westgate [2006] EWCA Civ 725
Respondent:
Judge/Commissioner:	Judge D. Williams
Date Of Decision:	05/04/2006
Date Added:	08/02/2005
Main Category:	Industrial diseases
Main Subcategory:	A11 (vibration white finger)
Secondary Category:
Secondary Subcategory:
Notes:	Industrial disease - prescribed disease A11 (vibration white finger) - prescribed occupation - whether percussive tool used in the bedding industry a “metal-working tool” The claimant claimed industrial injuries disablement benefit for prescribed disease A11 (vibration white finger). It was accepted that he had the disease, but his claim was refused on the ground that his work in the bedding industry did not involve “the use of hand-held percussive metal-working tools”. The issue was whether the rammer used by the claimant was a “metal-working tool”. The tool was an automatic staple gun used to drive a staple over a metal spring and a metal band into a wooden bed base. The Commissioner held that the tool met the definition, as it was a tool for working with metal. The Secretary of State appealed to the Court of Appeal. Held, allowing the appeal, that: 1. the true meaning of the compound adjective “metal-working” is “a tool that works metal”, not “a tool that works with metal” and therefore the rammer did not come within the definition of those tools which may properly be described as metal-working tools (paragraphs 5 to 7); 2. the obiter dicta in Secretary of State v Davis [2001] EWCA Civ 105 (reported as R(I) 2/01), was not authority for widening the definition, since that decision was concerned with the scope of the occupation, not the use of an identified tool (paragraphs 8 to 10). Reversed by Court of Appeal(Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Westgate)[2006] EWCA Civ 725, 05.04.06.
Decision(s) to Download:	R(I) 1-06 ws.doc