Industrial Disease Lawyers Appeal To Ex Colleagues For Information

The heartbroken daughter of a former foundry worker who died from an asbestos-related cancer is appealing to his former colleagues to come forward with any information about the working conditions at his workplace.

Norman Landry, 77, from Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire died on 9 March 2014 following a year-long battle with mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lungs which is caused by exposure to asbestos.

His daughter Maxine Pattinson instructed industrial disease experts at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the working conditions at K&L Foundry. Lawyers are appealing to any of Norman’s former colleagues to come forward with information about the presence of asbestos and working conditions at the foundry to help secure justice for his family.

Maxine believes that her dad was exposed to asbestos while he worked at K&L Foundry between 1965 and 1979. Norman was employed as a powder man, adding exothermic powder onto molten metal casts to prevent them from shrinking. Within the foundry, scrap metal was melted down in a furnace to convert it into high quality steel and former workers recall that some of this scrap metal had old asbestos lagging attached. The fabric of many of the buildings which made up the foundry site also contained asbestos.

Expert Opinion

Mesothelioma is an aggressive and incurable cancer which causes so much distress for victims like Norman who worked in industries where asbestos was regularly used. Sadly, many employers did not do enough to manage the risks of asbestos exposure, despite knowing how dangerous it is.

“We hope that Norman’s former co-workers and employees who worked at K&L Foundry will come forward to help answer the many questions his family has about his exposure as well as what measures, if any, were in place to protect employees like him. It’s important that we now help his family get answers about his exposure to the deadly dust.”
Rosemary Giles - Partner

Norman who leaves behind three children and five grandchildren started to suffer from shortness of breath in March 2013 and following tests he was diagnosed with mesothelioma. He underwent chemotherapy but over the following months his illness progressed. As his condition deteriorated, Norman struggled to get around and heavily relied on his family and friends to help him.

Maxine, who also lives in Letchworth said: “It was a complete shock to lose dad and it has been very difficult to come to terms with. As a family we are devastated that Dad was diagnosed with this terminal illness after being exposed to asbestos through simply going to work. It’s so unfair. The biggest hardship for Dad during his illness was his loss of independence. He used to walk for miles every day seeing all his friends out and about but his illness left him tired and he was afraid of falling. His quality of life towards the end was not good at all and it was horrible to see him suffering like that.

“I urge anyone who worked with my dad to come forward with information so we can move his case forward and try to get the answers we need to come to terms with our loss. We want to know why more wasn’t done at the time to protect him against the deadly asbestos dust whilst he was at work so we can gain justice.”

Anyone with information about the working conditions at K&L Foundry should contact Rosemary Giles at Irwin Mitchell’s London office on 0207 404 0208 or email rosemary.giles@irwinmitchell.com.