Boyes Turner’s specialist industrial disease team were instructed by a gentleman following his diagnosis of asbestos related diffuse pleural thickening. He alleged exposure to asbestos during employment with 5 companies spanning the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s.
There were 2 further periods of employment during which he was exposed to asbestos but these companies were untraced.
With the 5 traced companies (the defendants) the gentleman worked in the vicinity of fitters and laggers who were working with asbestos and alongside lagged boilers and pipes which had lagging in poor condition. He worked around lagged boilers and pipes which had lagging in poor condition and in close proximity to a large furnace which was lined with asbestos and regularly repaired.Sweeping up at the end of the day stirred up large quantities of asbestos dust.
He worked as a fitter’s mate working in and around large kilns and furnaces and in the vicinity of others working with asbestos. He also worked with asbestos himself in the form of asbestos sheets and rope.
Finally, he stripped out prefabricated housing which involved stripping corrugated asbestos sheeting from the walls and roof, cutting it up and dumping it into skips.
In each employment, he was not provided with any respiratory protection nor was he warned of the dangers of asbestos.
An independent medical expert supported that the gentleman suffered a 15% disability as a result of his asbestos related condition, pleural thickening, with future risks of other asbestos-related conditions.
The gentleman sought settlement on a full and final basis and court proceedings were issued. Matters progressed towards trial and although no formal admissions of liability were made, a month before trial the claim settled for a satisfactory sum.
