Health and Safety Executive steps up asbestos inspections
2010 saw a marked increase in the number of inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive into asbestos removal works. The intensified presence of the Executive at jobs carried out by asbestos removal companies saw 1 in every 18 notified asbestos removal jobs being subject to inspection by the government body.
The Executive which, has the power to prosecute individuals and companies for breaches of health and safety law, halted a number of jobs where asbestos removal work was not being carried out safely. Such measures protect the inspected companies’ employees and the public from harmful exposure to asbestos dust.
Every operational asbestos removal company can now expect to be visited by the Executive at least once a year. This is a welcome strategy which will help improve working practises within the competitive asbestos removal sector and which may reduce the number of future deaths in the UK from asbestos related diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis.
Unfortunately, there a many unlicensed companies carrying out asbestos removal works in unsafe conditions and at a fraction of the cost of those companies licensed to carry out such works. Sadly, it is the employees of those companies and the public who may well meet the true cost of dealing with asbestos unsafely, that cost being to health.
In the current financial climate where public authorities such as the HSE are having budgets slashed by government cutbacks, it remains to be seen how well the HSE shall be able to monitor working practises in the future.
Contact details:
Tel 01422 345535
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Website: www.johnpickering.co.uk
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.
If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.
Contact us to find out more about your entitlement to claim compensation if you have been diagnosed with mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer or pleural thickening.
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