Body Calls For Improvements To Support Injury Victims

Workplace injury and illness specialists at Irwin Mitchell have welcomed the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ call for the creation of an Employers’ Liability Insurance Bureau to help work accident victims access vital support.

In a column for the New Law Journal, APIL vice-president Karl Tonks has suggested that a system which would operate like the Motor Insurers’ Bureau could help many workers who suffer from industrial disease or injuries and are unable to trace their employer’s insurer.

He added that the Government is yet to report on a consultation related to the issue of an ‘ELIB’, even though it ended at the start of May 2010.

Irwin Mitchell has long campaigned for the introduction of such a system, after working on a number of cases in which people have not been able to gain vital funds to access rehabilitation due to employers being uninsured or their insurers untraceable.

Adrian Budgen, a Partner and national head of asbestos litigation at the firm, said: “The victims of uninsured drivers have been able to rely on the Motor Insurers’ Bureau for a nearly 40 years, yet those who suffer serious injury as a result of the negligence of an uninsured employer do not have the same support.

“In so many cases, whether it be work accident or asbestos-related illness, we have seen how many people are missing out on funds to cover care and lost earnings.

“From our work, particularly with victims of long-tail diseases such as mesothelioma, we’ve seen the frustration that the inability to trace an insurer can have – often meaning people are unable to get the support they deserve.

“We welcome the calls from APIL and hope to see a response from the Government as soon as possible.”