Injured Workers See Glimpse Of Victory

The long running saga surrounding workers' exposure to asbestos has seen many swings and roundabouts, including a number of highly controversial decisions, but there is hope that the matter of compensation could finally be coming closer to being resolved.

Labour MP Andrew Dismore's bill, which passed through the House of Commons last month without a vote; would, if passed also in the Lords, pave the way for Mesothelioma and pleural plaques sufferers to win compensation for the personal injuries they suffered at work.

Legal battles

A House of Lords ruling, back in 2007 was one of the major disappointments for the families involved in the dispute after the peers decided that sufferers would be ineligible for compensation claim., which Mr Dismore said, would be changed if his bill was passed.

Dismore noted that for the thousands of people involved, being awarded fair damages would turn the law back into one that provided justice for workers. The MP said that the sufferers of the disease were being denied access to compensation to which they were "justly entitled".

He said: "What we are talking about here is not just compassion for people who are suffering from pleural plaques and the psychological consequences that it causes which are equally bad. What we are simply asking for here is justice for people who have been exposed to asbestos during the course of their employment through no fault of their own to enable them to recover the compensation to which they are justly entitled."

Mr. Dismore has received strong backing from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, (Apil), who has been calling on the government to take more proactive steps to help those affected by exposure to asbestos for a considerable amount of time.

A spokesman for Apil had previously noted that one of the main barriers to compensation had been the timescale involved in the claims. Because Mesothelioma can often take decades to become clear, by the time the worker falls ill their former employer and the insurer have often closed down.

Presently insurance companies attempt to trace former insurers through a voluntary scheme run by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), which the Apil spokesman described as wholly inadequate. According to Denise Kitchener, the system currently in place was letting down those injured in the past.

"We know the ABI has tried consistently to improve the number of successful traces over the years, but the latest figures speak for themselves. We have been calling for the introduction of an ELIB for more than ten years and fully support Andrew Dismore's Bill.

"People who cannot trace their employers' insurers often have no option but to give up their right to compensation, and an ELIB would provide the back up these people need to make sure their claims do not have to be abandoned," she said.

Many commentators have noted that eve with many thousands of asbestos claims currently on the books it is possible that there are potentially a greater number of people who haven't come forward yet but will in the future, which would put even greater strain on insurers' tracing methods.



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If you have been injured at work, speak to one of our injury lawyers and find out if you could make a compensation claim.