Workers Exposed to Asbestos at Aberystwyth Hospital
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An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive has concluded that at least 30 members of staff, possibly more, were exposed to harmful asbestos fibres at one of Wales’ largest hospitals between 2004 and 2009.
All members of staff at Bronglais General Hospital in Aberystwyth who are thought to have been affected have been offered a full health screening. Further, it is believed that a number of contractors working on the site at the time also came into contact with the dangerous dust. All efforts are being made to trace and contact these people to offer important health advice.
Hwel Dda Health Board’s Ceredigion county director, Ian Bellingham said: “In 2004 new practices were introduced on a national level and what we have discovered is that those practices were not adopted here by the previous management regime. As in many hospitals in the UK, we have some asbestos in our buildings, usually used in engineering, to insulate pipes and things like that. When it is managed properly it is entirely safe, what we have discovered is that control of operations here was not as tight as it should have been. Staff had access to areas they should not have been in.”
In October 2009 new Health Boards replaced all NHS Trusts in Wales. When Hywel Dda Health Board was established in 2009 the problem with asbestos was quickly identified. The HSE was notified and the correct measures taken.
It has been denied that the health of any patients or members of the public were put at risk. A health board spokesman said: “I can give an assurance that systems and processes have been put in place across the health board to prevent this happening again. We would like to offer assurance that the asbestos was not in areas accessible to patients or the public.”
Asbestos related illnesses are caused by inhaling asbestos fibres. Exposure can lead to mesothelioma, a rare type of lung cancer, scarring of the lungs and other respiratory problems.
The health board has confirmed that all “senior accountable managers” working at the hospital between 2004 and 2009 have since moved on or retired.
It is possible that many more lives have been put at risk by the exposure to asbestos. Mr Bellingham added: “We just don’t know, there’s no evidence to suggest that, but it is impossible to say.”
Asbestos related illnesses can take decades to become apparent and cause symptoms. There is currently no cure for asbestos related illnesses. In the UK alone over 4,000 people die every year from asbestos related diseases including mesothelioma.
The results of investigations carried out at all other buildings run by Hywel Dda Health board in Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire found no ill practice in terms of asbestos management.
The health board have not confirmed whether or not affected staff will be offered compensation. It confirmed that “they will be offered our full support.”
A HSE spokesperson said:”We have investigated the management of asbestos at Bronglais General Hospital, Aberystwyth, between 2004 and 2009. During this period maintenance workers and contractors were required to access and work in, restricted areas of the hospital that had been identified as containing asbestos that was in an unsafe condition – thereby potentially exposing those individuals to loose asbestos fibres......HSE continues to liaise with the health board in order to ensure that suitable measures to manage asbestos at Bronglais General Hospital, and across the health board’s entire estate, have been developed and implemented.”
It has emerged however that Hywel Dda Health Board are unlikely to face prosecution over the asbestos exposure. The HSE said that this is because NHS reforms in 2009 failed to transfer criminal liabilities, so reducing the chance of success in court.
The Construction Union UCATT is outraged and has written to the Welsh First Minister, Carwyn Jones, demanding an urgent inquiry into how the ‘legislative blunder’ occurred.
A HSE spokesman said: “HSE has investigated the matter and has concluded that breaches of health and safety legislation had occurred......Had criminal liability been transferred then HSE would have prosecuted Hywel Dda Health Board for the historic failures to manage asbestos between 2004 and 2009.”
The Regional Secretary for Wales and the South West, Nick Blundell said: “This is an intolerable situation. Workers have systematically been exposed to asbestos and yet they will be denied justice due to a bureaucratic muddle. Carwyn Jones needs to act quickly to resolve these problems in order to restore confidence among workers.”
Contact details:
Louisa Saville
John Pickering and Partners LLP
Manchester
Telephone: 0161 834 1251
E-mail: ls@johnpickering.co.uk
Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk
FREEPHONE: 0808 1440957
About John Pickering and Partners LLP
John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors
We are a dedicated personal injury law firm who do not do other types of work. We specialise in claiming damages for asbestos sufferers. We have been handling compensation claims for industrial disease for over 30 years. Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims who suffer from mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening. We only act for the sufferers of asbestos diseases and never act for the organisations that caused the asbestos exposure or their insurers. We have an ethical approach and donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers. We have set up a charitable trust to help to fund medical research into mesothelioma and various organisations that help and support asbestos sufferers and their families.
Find out more about our donations to good causes. We have also been involved in most of the landmark judgments that shape this area of law. Find out more about us or our reported cases. We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides. Find out more about what others have said about us.
John Pickering and Partners LLP is a niche legal practice that has represented Claimants in the leading asbestos "test cases" in the last ten years. The firm represented Sylvia Barker in Barker v Corus (UK) Plc, a case that highlighted the legal tactics of employers and insurers trying to cut back their compensation liabilities to mesothelioma sufferers, and which prompted the amendment of the Compensation Act 2006 to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma claims. The firm represented two of the three Claimants in the landmark Fairchild appeal, in which the insurance industry tried unsuccessfully to block compensation altogether for mesothelioma sufferers unable to identify which of two or more sources of asbestos exposure had caused their illness.
The firm represented Alice Jefferson, a mesothelioma sufferer, whose illness and compensation claim against Cape Asbestos were featured in the important documentary "Alice: A Fight For Life." Shown by Yorkshire Television in July 1982, the programme was an important catalyst for legal change and public awareness of the plight of mesothelioma and other asbestos disease sufferers and a prompt for important legal reform.
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that affects the lining of certain bodily organs. It most commonly affects the lining of the lungs (the pleura) but it can affect other areas including organs in the abdominal cavity (the peritoneum).
More than 2,000 people are diagnosed with mesothelioma every year in the UK and there is one mesothelioma death every five hours. The number of deaths from mesothelioma increased from 153 in 1968 to 1,969 in 2004 and is expected to peak at 2,450 between 2011 and 2015.
The first Action Mesothelioma Day was launched on 27th February 2006. Its objectives were to raise awareness about mesothelioma, to improve the treatment and care of mesothelioma patients, and to lobby for better funding for research into mesothelioma and for the protection and education of people who may be exposed to asbestos.
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