1 Introduction
1. Under the terms of the Coal Industry Act 1994
the liabilities of British Coal were transferred to the Department
of Trade and Industry on 1 January 1998. It had not been feasible
to pass them on to purchasers of British Coal's assets due to
uncertainty over the nature and size of the liabilities and
the difficulty in obtaining employer's liability insurance. British
Coal was taken to the High Court in two separate group actions
and found liable to pay compensation for damage caused to miners
through excessive use of vibrating tools (in July 1997) and through
exposure to coal dust (in January 1998).[1]
British Coal was found negligent in relation to injury caused
by vibrating tools from 1975 and from exposure to coal dust from
1954 (1949 in Scotland). The courts ruled that, after these dates,
British Coal should have been aware of the risks and should have
taken steps to protect its employees against coal dust, fumes,
and vibration.[2]
2. The courts instructed the DTI to work with miners'
solicitors to agree detailed arrangements to assess compensation.
In response to the courts' instructions the DTI established the
Coal Liabilities Unit to negotiate Handling Agreements and to
process ex-miners' claims for compensation under two personal
injury schemes—one for Vibration White Finger and one for
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.[3]
The Handling Agreements were concluded by 1999 and were designed
to mirror English common law as far as possible and cover how
liability is established and compensation paid. They were intended
to be a more efficient alternative to the normal legal process,
which would have involved the courts in the adjudication of thousands
of claims from miners and widows which the DTI estimated at the
time might have taken 15-20 years to be settled. Although the
Court judgements related only to England and Wales, similar arrangements
were negotiated to allow Scottish claims to be processed in the
same way.[4]
3. We decided to review the progress made by the
Coal Liabilities Unit in the settlement of damages claims more
than five years after the conclusion of the Handling Agreements.
We are grateful to those who submitted written evidence, and to
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State,[5]
his officials from the Coal Liabilities Unit, representatives
from the DTI's contractors, ATOS Origin and Capita-IRISC and the
Claimants' Solicitors Groups (CSG), for their oral evidence.
1 Appendix 2, para 4 Back
2
www.dti.gsi.gov.uk/coalhealth Back
3
Appendix 2, paras 9-10 Back
4
Ibid Back
5
Nigel Griffiths MP Back
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