Asbestosis/Industrial Disease

Have you suffered from an industrial disease?

A building material called asbestos can cause major health problems. When asbestos is disturbed it releases tiny fibres which, if inhaled into the lungs can cause inflammation, a build-up of scar tissue and sometimes cancer.

With asbestosis now affecting as many as 1 in 100 men regardless of social status or occupation, asbestosis compensation claims are becoming more common. This disease is just one type of asbestos-related diseases but the most common.

Under the rules for bringing a personal injury case, individuals can still make an asbestosis claim in respect of exposure to asbestos decades earlier, provided proceedings are started within three years of the "date of knowledge". This date will be the occasion when the individual was first informed by their medical advisers that they were suffering from an asbestos related condition.

In practical terms, the next step in bringing an asbestosis claim will be to find out where and when the relevant exposure took place, and ideally whether the relevant employer is still in existence and insured. Typically, individuals working with asbestos as laggers, roofers, buildings maintenance workers and so on are likely to have worked for a number of different employers over the years, not all of which will still be in existence. For this reason, tracing the relevant insurers in an asbestos claim can be a major challenge.

Once this has been done, a medical report must be commissioned that ideally confirms the diagnosis and also states on a balance of probabilities that the exposure was caused by the working conditions. Provided an insurer can be found, or in a minority of cases an employer still in existence, then an asbestosis claim can be advanced.

Coles Miller Claims UK has a specialist team of personal injury solicitors that deal exclusively in asbestos and industrial disease compensation claims.