Pages On: Asbestos Exposure
Asbestos is an extremely hazardous material that can cause devastating damage to the lungs of anyone unlucky and to inhale it. Fortunately, Asbestos is harmless if not disturbed. However, many professionals have been forced to work with Asbestos in roles such as shipbuilding, electricians, and roofers. Where proper training is not provided, or the right personal protective equipment — as it is a heavily regulated industry — then your employer is liable for putting you at risk. Asbestos exposure can result in a myriad of lung diseases, such as Asbestosis and Mesothelioma, both of which are often fatal. If you have suffered from Asbestos exposure, you may be entitled to claim compensation.
New Mesothelioma Funding for North East
Posted: 27 April 2016
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma
Government funding has paved the way for a new mesothelioma cancer research centre in the North East of England. Rates of mesothelioma are particularly high in the North East due to the region’s historic links to industry. Asbestos was routinely used as an insulating material in industries such as ship building, car manufacturing and construction. When asbestos is disturbed, the microscopic fibres can be breathed into the lungs and can lead to the development of mesothelioma many years later. The news of the £5million research centre was welcomed by Chris…
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Mesothelioma Handbook Launched on 20th Anniversary of Landmark Case
Posted: 22 April 2016
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Mesothelioma, Public Place Accidents
A handbook to help sufferers of mesothelioma has been launched on the 20th anniversary of June Hancock’s landmark case. Ms Hancock was the first non-worker to successfully win a compensation claim for asbestos exposure that resulted in mesothelioma. Ms Hancock had been exposed to the deadly substance as a child living near to the JW Roberts asbestos factory in Leeds. She succeeded in securing a five-figure compensation payout a year before her death in 1997. Mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a highly aggressive form of lung cancer that is caused by breathing…
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Making a Claim for Asbestos Related Death
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma
Before being banned in 1999, asbestos was routinely used in many industries. It was a standard insulating material and was used in manufacturing, electronics and boiler making. For this reason, the workers who are most at risk of contracting an asbestos-related disease include construction workers, electricians, builders and those who worked in the shipbuilding industries. Due to the industrial connection, the vast majority of asbestos disease sufferers are male. When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed through demolition, chipping or sawing, tiny fibres of asbestos will move into the air…
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Teacher’s Family Claim Compensation for Asbestos Death
Posted: 15 March 2016
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Mesothelioma, School Accidents
The family of a teacher who was exposed to asbestos at work have successfully made a compensation claim against her former employer. Elizabeth Belt died of mesothelioma aged 68. This is a deadly form of cancer that is directly connected to breathing in asbestos fibres. Asbestos was routinely used as an insulating material in homes and schools before it was banned in 1999. The substance poses no threat while it lies dormant. However, when the material is disturbed the air can fill with the harmful dust. If breathed in, these…
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Plea to help workers affected by asbestos
Posted: 30 August 2015
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma
When figures revealed that 85 people in the Doncaster area had died from asbestos-related cancer over a four-year period, campaigners demanded that more support should be offered to those affected. The figures showed that 85 people, who had worked primarily in the industrial sector, had died from mesothelioma between 2010 and 2014. 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people were caused by mesothelioma in Doncaster, furnishing it with the 43rd highest mortality rate in England and Wales. The average rate for England and Wales is 4.4 deaths per 100,000 people. “legacy of…
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Mesothelioma suffer fights to prove asbestos exposure
Posted: 6 July 2015
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma, Workplace Injuries
67-year-old Brian Coffey, diagnosed with mesothelioma in April, has turned to his former colleagues to help him prove his exposure to deadly asbestos at work. The cancer sufferer from Walkergate in Newcastle believes that his cancer was caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibres during his time at work at Morley Coachworks (between 1985 and 1986) and the Prescription Pricing Authority (between 1987 and 1994). Mr Coffey said that many of his colleagues at Morley Coachworks worked on clutch and brake linings, which were made from asbestos, and he often…
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Dockyard workers win £35m in asbestos poisoning compensation
Posted: 3 March 2014
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease
Figures have been released by the Ministry of Defence revealing that dockyard workers have been awarded a total of £35m in compensation for asbestos poisoning at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth. A Freedom of Information Act request has highlighted that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has had to settle a total of 273 cases for asbestos-related illnesses in the last 7 years, (spanning from 2006 to 2013). These compensation claims led to a total of £19.4m being paid out. Plymouth has been highlighted as the city with the highest rates of…
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Widow receives £700,000 in asbestos compensation
Posted: 26 January 2014
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma
A widow who contracted the same cancer as her husband had, has received £700,000 in asbestos compensation following years of washing his asbestos-covered clothing. 66-year-old Monica Haxton cared for her husband Ronald as he suffered with mesothelioma. Ronald had spent years working as an electrician for Philips Electronics UK Ltd in Guildford before eventually dying of the incurable lung cancer associated with asbestos. Mrs Haxton, a mother of four and a grandmother of eight, cared for her husband during his final years, and two years before his death in 2009,…
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Tradesmen still at risk from asbestos
Posted: 13 March 2013
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence
The frequency of asbestos cases being reported to the Health and Safety Executive demonstrates that adequate measures are still not being taken to protect workers from the illnesses associated with exposure to asbestos. Asbestos kills thousands each year Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. It is responsible for more than 4,500 deaths each year. Asbestos is still present in many buildings and any work likely to disturb the asbestos needs to be positively managed to prevent exposure. Architects’ failure risked workers lives One example…
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Council in court for ignoring asbestos threat in school
Posted: 6 March 2013
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Public Place Accidents, School Accidents
Thurrock Council has been fined after admitting to failures in how it managed asbestos across its schools. Basildon Crown Court heard that despite being made aware of asbestos concerns in a boiler room at a Junior School, no action was taken. A specialist contractor tasked with carrying out an asbestos survey by the council in 2004 said that dust and debris found in the boiler room containing asbestos fibres should be removed immediately under licensed conditions. However, an HSE inspection in April 2010, as part of a national initiative to…
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European Parliament adopts report on asbestos
Posted: 29 January 2013
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs of the European Parliament has adopted a report on dealing with the problem of asbestos, reports the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC). The report is largely in line with the stated aims of the ETUC and organisations representing asbestos victims in different countries. The report explores the different areas in which the European Union can intervene, and calls for a policy that protects workers and the population effectively. It notes that millions of tonnes of asbestos in existing buildings and facilities continue to…
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Demolition firm fined for illegal asbestos removal
Posted: 8 November 2012
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Employer Negligence, Industrial Deafness and Disease
A Cheltenham demolition company has been prosecuted after exposing its own workers to dangerous asbestos fibres and illegally removing asbestos waste from a property in Gloucester. The court heard the firm undertook an asbestos survey before demolishing the building showing it contained a quantity of Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB). The report identified that this would have to be safely removed in a controlled manner before demolition went ahead. However, during a six-week period in August and September 2011, the building was demolished and asbestos boarding removed by the firm’s employees,…
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Asbestos and Mesothelioma Compensation Claims
Posted in: Asbestos Exposure, Industrial Deafness and Disease, Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is an industrial disease; a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Asbestos is a material that was popularly used in the building trade before its dangers, like developing cancer from exposure, were discovered. Many of the employees who worked in such an environment where asbestos was used did not realise straightaway that they have contracted mesothelioma as the symptoms can take time to appear and if you worked in an environment where asbestos was used, you may wish to get a medical check up. At the time,…
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