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Posts Tagged ‘asbestosis’

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Asbestos workers at risk of heart disease and damaged lungs

Workers exposed to asbestos as part of their job are at a significantly greater risk of heart disease and stroke than the general population with women more likely to be affected than men, new research has found.

It is already well known that asbestos workers are prone to serious lung disease, such as mesothelioma and asbestosis, as a direct result of their exposure to asbestos fibres.

In the latest study scientists analysed the cause of death among nearly 100,000 asbestos workers taking part in regular voluntary health monitoring and answering questions on levels of exposure for the Asbestos Workers Survey.

Warning: Those working around asbestos are more prone to heart attacks

Most of the men taking part in the survey worked in asbestos removal while most of the women worked in manufacturing.

More than half of the men (58%) and women (52%) were smokers at the time of their first medical examination, proportions which had fallen only slightly (55% and 49%) at the time of their last.

April 3, 2012 8:07 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Pay-out for woman with asbestos disease

A woman diagnosed with an incurable asbestos-related disease after washing her family’s clothes has won a landmark Ministry of Defence pay-out.

Rose Devereux used to scrub the overalls of her father, brother and husband who all worked in Devonport Dockyard.

The 65-year-old, of Stoke, was diagnosed with asbestosis two years ago.

Experts believe she could be the first person in the country to receive compensation due to developing the chronic lung condition second-hand.

The disease generally requires prolonged exposure, and therefore emerges among people who worked directly with the substance. Family members more commonly develop the asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma – for which Plymouth is a hotspot.

October 24, 2011 8:47 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Pay out for Crewe asbestos victim

A CREWE man who was exposed to asbestos as a 14-year-old apprentice has received a substantial sum in compensation.

Albert Greenwood, 84, worked as an apprentice fitter and turner and then as a qualified fitter at Crewe Railway Works.

He was exposed to asbestos daily but was never warned about the dangers or provided with adequate protective equipment.

The great-granddad to six was diagnosed with asbestosis in May last year after suffering from breathing difficulties.

Following his diagnosis his trade union, Unite, instructed national asbestos claims experts Thompsons Solicitors to pursue a claim for compensation.

Thompsons settled the claim out of court.

September 21, 2011 11:03 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Compensation for Crewe asbestos victim

A CREWE man who was exposed to asbestos as a 14-year-old apprentice has received a substantial sum in compensation.

Albert Greenwood, 84, worked as an apprentice fitter and turner and then as a qualified fitter at Crewe Railways Works.

He was exposed to asbestos daily but was never warned about the dangers or provided with adequate protective equipment.

The great granddad to six was diagnosed with asbestosis in May 2010 after suffering from breathing difficulties.

Following his diagnosis his trade union, Unite, instructed national asbestos claims experts Thompsons Solicitors to pursue a claim for compensation.

Thompsons settled the claim out of court.

September 16, 2011 12:29 pm - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos find halts work at John Lewis, 200 workers pulled off site

WORK on Exeter’s new John Lewis store has been halted while specialists deal with asbestos, the Echo can reveal. John Lewis at Home is due to open in the refurbished former Debenhams store in Sidwell Street in the autumn.

But a spokesman for Land Securities, which owns the iconic building, confirmed that work had been delayed after asbestos was discovered by workers. The multi-million pound project to re-model the shop, which was built in the 1960s, began in January.

March 28, 2011 7:51 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Legislation for asbestos-related conditions a step closer

Sufferers of some asbestos-related conditions are a step closer to accessing compensation following a debate in the Assembly yesterday evening.

Finance Minister Sammy Wilson believes the proposed legislation is vital in providing assistance to those who have suffered wrong.

The Damages (Asbestos-related Conditions) Bill aims to deal with certain asbestos-related conditions namely pleural plaques, pleural thickening and asbestosis. Pleural plaques are non-malignant areas of fibrosis found within the pleura of the lung. Pleural thickening is a non-malignant disease in which the lining of the pleura becomes scarred and can lead to breathlessness. Asbestosis is a non-malignant scarring of the lung tissue which leads to inadequate oxygen intake to the blood.

January 19, 2011 8:26 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos linked to early death of ship engineer

AN engineer who was exposed to asbestos while working at a shipbuilding yard died from industrial disease. Former Rolls-Royce worker Harry Rigby recalled blowing asbestos dust from his overalls while working in the 1950s at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, before he moved to Derby.

In a statement read out at Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner’s Court, he recalled seeing blue, white and brown asbestos in the air while he worked close to asbestos-lagged pipes. Mr Rigby, of Breaston, started to feel breathless in early 2008, struggling to tend to his garden and do odd jobs around the house.

He was diagnosed with pleural plaques – a form of asbestosis – in October 2008 and died at the Royal Derby Hospital, aged 71, last month.

In 2008, as part of a successful compensation claim before his death, Mr Rigby, of Holly Avenue, was examined by respiratory physician Dr David Baldwin.

In it he said: “Over the last 12 months my breathing has become gradually worse. I am now unable to walk 100 yards without having to stop and I have to rest after climbing one flight of steps.

“I worked from 1955 to 1960 as an apprentice engineer at Cammell Laird. The pipes were lagged in asbestos and I would see the blue, white and brown dust. I would use the air lines to blow the dust off me and my overalls.”

Mr Rigby carried on working at Cammell Laird, away from the pipework, until 1975 when he moved to Derby and took up a role as an electrical design engineer at Rolls-Royce. He still worked on ships, but said any exposure to asbestos would have been “minimal.”

November 24, 2010 8:50 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Danger In Many Schools

Despite stringent regulations being in place to protect the health and safety of school children, schools are failing to screen them against asbestos. The Asbestos Training and Consultancy Association made the claims after a survey of 16 schools suggested that asbestos was still a danger.

Asbestos becomes deadly when it is damaged or disturbed and its fibres are inhaled and can cause a host of diseases including mesothelioma, asbestosis and pleural plaques. Experts say that over half of the schools visited contained this damaged asbestos. The government’s policy is for schools to leave asbestos in place, yet the Association claims that many schools lacked the resources to manage it safely.

The effective management of asbestos in schools is essential because children are particularly vulnerable to developing disease after an exposure to asbestos. The survey presents worrying statistics for parents and teachers, as about 75% of Britain’s schools contain asbestos which has prompted the deaths of approximately 178 teachers from asbestos-related illnesses between 1980 and 2005 and could cause the deaths of an unknown number of children in later life. The increasing numbers of asbestos-related deaths is testament that the management policy has failed.

Carole Hagerdon worked in secondary schools for around 13 years before she began to show symptoms of the deadly lung cancer mesothelioma. She is devastated by the diagnosis and wishes to warn parents and teachers of the dangers of asbestos so that the same thing can be prevented in the future. At just 58 she has a prognosis of 6 months left to live. The density of asbestos in schools can be determined from the disease rate among teachers, which is 10 times that of the average man among male teachers and around 2.5 times for women teachers.

There are now calls for asbestos to be completely moved from all schools as management is obviously not working. It will have to be seen the effect it will have on our children in the future.

Source: ArticleDirectory By Tom Doerr 08/11/2010

Asbestos Industry News is the online voice for UK Asbestos News. The site covers information about asbestos management, asbestos surveying, asbestos removal, asbestos recruitment, asbestos claims, asbestos waste, asbestos legislation, asbestos inspection, asbestos related disease, asbestos training and much more. Visit www.asbestosindustrynews.co.uk, and subscribe to the RSS feed. or Subscribe to Asbestos Industry News by Email

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asbestos claims and compensationAsbestos In Schools

November 9, 2010 8:32 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Claims – Confusion reigns after Asbestos ruling

A new ruling regarding asbestos compensation claims is sure to provoke confusion and dismay from the workers affected by exposure to the deadly substance.

The website of No Win, No Fee solicitors Claims Direct – a firm which helps victims make asbestos-related claims – outlines the dangers of asbestos.

In the 1970s many British workers found themselves in close proximity to asbestos since it was used to fireproof roofing and flooring as companies exploited the product’s potential to provide heat insulation.

The material’s desirable physical qualities had made it prevalent in industry long before then as it could absorb sound and was resistant to heat and many chemicals.

But humans have proved less resistant to the effects of inhaling its fatal fibres. Claims Direct website lists Asbestosis, Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma as three conditions associated with exposure to asbestos.

Mesothelioma is the most serious of the asbestos-related diseases; its symptoms appear similar to Asbestosis (shortness of breath, abnormal chest sounds), but it is incurable.

In November 2008 a landmark decision from the High Court ruled that employers’ insurers were liable to pay out on from the time that the mesothelioma victim first came into contact with asbestos in the workplace.

But this verdict –hailed as a victory for the victims at the time – seems to have been overturned by the Court of Appeals’ October 8th 2010 pronouncement that in some circumstances the liability should only date from the onset of symptoms.

October 22, 2010 7:57 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Exposure in the Workplace During the 20th Century and Beyond

Throughout the twentieth century asbestos had been used as one of the primary components of a multitude of products that were used by the construction industry. Well before the century was over asbestos had also been proven to be a cause of mesothelioma, asbestosis, and other life-threatening diseases.

Who is Most Susceptible to Develop an Asbestos Related Disease?

A study in the United Kingdom found that people who worked in construction, especially those who were born during the 1940s, are especially susceptible to develop asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma. This is corroborated by the fact that the incidence of mesothelioma among drywallers, carpenters, and others in the construction industry has been relatively high.

That’s because plumbers, electricians, drywallers, and carpenters that have worked with products that contained asbestos had been exposed to high amounts of asbestos fibers and toxic asbestos dust. A major period of commercial construction in the United States began shortly after World War II and ran relatively unabated through the 1970s. During these boom times the interstate highway system was developed. As a result, what had formerly been undeveloped areas boomed with heavy commercial and residential construction.

Asbestos was present in many of the materials that were used by the construction industry during the 1960s and the 1970s.

October 20, 2010 8:24 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Waste – Asbestos is dumped at beauty spot

RAMBLERS at a local beauty spot have been warned they could be at risk from deadly asbestos believed to have been dumped on Black Mountain.

Fly-tippers have targeted the popular ‘Rumbling Hole’ waterfall, close to the source of the Colin River in the Belfast Hills, dumping huge quantities of rubbish, including old televisions, tyres, and fridges.

However, a quantity of what it’s feared could be asbestos has also been discarded at the Glenside woodland site, leading to fears that walkers enjoying the beautiful rambling route could expose themselves to the substance, which can cause fatal lung disease.

A concerned walker stumbled upon the dump, which lies close to a Travellers camp near the Glenside Road, and was shocked to see what he claimed was asbestos sheets among the shocking mess left by the fly-tippers.

The site is also close to the Colin River, leading to fears that the waterway – which is the site of school nature projects and contains fish including rare brown trout – could be at risk of serious contamination from the waste.

“When I got to the Rumbling Hole I was shocked to see the mess,” the concerned local said.

October 18, 2010 8:05 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Related Disease – Group launched for North asbestos sufferers

A SUPPORT group to help asbestos sufferers in Tyneside is officially opening this week. The scheme, led by the Northern TUC, is based at Wallsend People’s Centre, in North Tyneside. Newcastle East MP Nick Brown and North Tyneside MP Mary Glindon will carry out the opening ceremony on Friday.

The group has been formed to provide advice and guidance for North East workers suffering from asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma, pleural plaques and asbestosis. Organisers say the number of asbestos-poisoning victims in the North East is set to rise steeply over the next few years and support services like this will help to play a vital role.

The Chronicle has also been running the Give Them Justice Campaign, helping pleural plaques sufferers demand their right to compensation. Mr Brown said: “This is an important initiative by the TUC. The support group offers practical help and advice to the victims of one of the great scandals of our age.

“Asbestosis is a remorseless killer. We should stand up for the victims, conduct more medical research to prolong victims’ lives, safeguard future generations from exposure, and make the guilty employers and their insurers pay compensation.”

Mrs Glindon added: “I cannot think of a better location for the new asbestos support group than Wallsend People’s Centre, as the centre has a renowned record for supporting people with industrial diseases.”

Maureen Madden, chief officer at the centre, said project workers would be able to provide independent professional advice about benefit entitlement to anyone affected by asbestos-related disease. She added: “They can help with the completion of applications for industrial injuries disablement benefit and other benefits, and support claimants at tribunals if necessary.”

October 7, 2010 7:45 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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Asbestos Claims – Are you entitled to compensation for an asbestos-related illness?

The risk of asbestos-related illnesses was first discovered in the mid 1970s, but as the effects of exposure can rake decades to manifest, more and more cases are now coming to the fore. As such, there has been a significant rise in the number of people claiming for and winning deserved compensation.

People who worked as gas fitters, plumbers, electricians, painters and decorators, laggers, thermal insulation engineers and building workers are among those that most vulnerable of being exposed to asbestos.

September 17, 2010 7:50 am - Posted by Asbestos News  | Comments ( 0 )
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