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Asbestos and Merchant Navy
Many former merchant navy personnel who served on ships have developed asbestos diseases like mesothelioma, lung cancer, diffuse pleural thickening and asbestosis. Asbestos lagging was found on pipework, boilers, tanks, vessels, etc for heating insulation in engine and boiler rooms. However, pipes often ran all over ships including through accommodation areas. Many workers employed in engine and boiler rooms were exposed to asbestos when running repairs were carried out at sea or when more extensive repairs were done in port, often by contractors, but with seamen "standing by" to supervise the work. Therefore, there is a high incidence of asbestos disease amongst ships' engineers, boilermen, stokers, etc who worked in ships' engine and boiler rooms. However, claims for asbestos disease have been made by other merchant navy personnel and we have dealt with claims on behalf of stewards and catering workers, ships' captains, cargo superintendents, able seamen, etc. Claims against ship owners can be difficult because of problems in tracing these companies, many of whom are now defunct, or because of problems in tracing their insurers. Many ship owners argue that their date of knowledge of the dangers of asbestos was later than employers based on land who operate factories. Ship owners had insurance with organisations called P & I Clubs. Some of these P & I Clubs refuse to pay compensation to asbestos sufferers, even when the claim against the ship owner was successful, because they say that ship owners who become bankrupt breach one of the rules of insurance cover (the "pay to be paid" principle). Please click here to read a more detailed article that explains some of the legal obstacles in bringing claims for asbestos disease against ship owners. However, we have dealt with many successful asbestos disease claims against shipping lines including Clan Line, City Line, Ellerman Line, Furness Withy, Pacific Steam Navigation Co, Shaw Savill Albion, Shell Tankers, Sugar Line, BP Tankers, Union Castle, Canadian Pacific, New Zealand Shipping Company, to name just a few. Click here for more information about asbestos disease claims and how claims for compensation for asbestos illnesses work in practice. Contact us to find out if you can claim for mesothelioma or other asbestos related conditions. Further information:
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