Successful Asbestos Claim following Exposure at Work

Asbestos claim settled for six figure sum

A county Durham man who suffers from an asbestos-related disease from exposure to asbestos at work, has received over £100,000 compensation.

Mr X was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a terminal cancer of the lining of the lung caused by exposure to asbestos, in March 2007.

Over the last couple of months of 2006 he started feeling very chesty. This gradually increased in severity and he started to notice a shortage of breath. Mr X went to see his GP who prescribed him with antibiotics which did little good, and as a result of the failure to improve his symptoms he was sent to the hospital for an x-ray. After investigations, the formal diagnosis of mesothelioma was made on 22 March 2007.

Mr X was exposed to asbestos whilst working for British Steel as a Blast Furness Top Shift Foreman. As a lot of the machines were water cooled and also powered by compressed air, there was a great deal of pipework which was lagged. All of the lagging in the plant was asbestos which was very brittle and would crumble to dust.

During his employment, Mr X would regularly come into contact with the asbestos lagging. When maintenance work was carried out, the lagging had to be removed from the pipes so that access could be gained to the various joints or areas of pipework which were damaged. The maintenance fitters would just cut this away with Stanley knives or rip it off with their hands. Then it would just be re-wrapped around a pipe once they were done.

The asbestos claim was settled for £112,000 by Lucy Proctor of Irwin Mitchell’s specialist Asbestos Related Disease Team, who deal with all claims for mesothelioma, asbestosis and asbestos-related lung cancer, based in Newcastle.

If you have suffered lung cancer as a result of asbestos exposure, we can help. Complete our online claims form for a free case assessment.