Two more asbestos deaths from Yorkshire Mills

Many clients that I meet who have worked in mills don’t think that they have had exposure to asbestos dust.  However, as I investigate the claim, it transpires that they did have asbestos exposure but were simply unaware of it.  These men and women were just getting on with their jobs as weavers, spinners, overlookers, packers or labourers and weren’t watching what others did around them. 

Many of the old mills in Lancashire and Yorkshire were powered by steam boilers and these steam boilers in the 1940’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s were insulated with asbestos.  The asbestos was put on as a composition with chicken wire.  It looked like a grey plaster before it was put on or it was put on pipe work as pre-formed asbestos pieces which went around the circumference of the pipes.  As fitters, maintenance men, electricians and other trades got on with their work repairing leaks, fitting new equipment, running cables, painting the pipe work and boilers, they disturbed the asbestos lagging when removing it to be able to do their jobs.  If I speak to the fitters, maintenance men, electricians or joiners, they recollect disturbing asbestos lagging but those people working in the mills were oblivious to their work.  It is by talking to the fitters, maintenance men, electricians and joiners that I can establish that asbestos dust was present and that it was released during working hours when the weavers, spinners, overlookers and so on in the mills were getting on with their jobs. 

Over the last 6 months, I have settled 2 such cases, one for a gentleman who worked at Globe Mills as an overlooker.  Globe Mills was based in Bridge Street, Huddersfield.  Another for a gentleman who worked as a packer at Bingley Mills near Bradford.  The news that they had mesothelioma, an asbestos related cancer was absolutely devastating.  They were both unsure as to where they had had exposure to asbestos dust initially.  Both recollected asbestos lagged pipe work in the mills and through investigations, I was able to establish who the employers’ liability insurers were for both of the mills at the time that the clients worked there, despite the mills no longer operating. 

Picture of Lister Mills in redevelopment in 2004

Although in both cases court proceedings had to be issued, settlements were reached with the insurer’s solicitors within 7 months of the date that the clients instructed me.  Both clients received their compensation cheques within their lifetimes.  As well as assisting them in obtaining compensation from their former employers, I helped them obtain Government benefits.  One of my clients said that he was very pleased indeed with the result and impressed by the skill that I had used to be able to obtain him a settlement. 

If you have mesothelioma and worked in a mill, I suggest that you get in touch with me since I may be able to assist you in getting some compensation.  Although, I am fully aware that damages does not compensate you for what has happened, at least, it can make yours and your family’s life more comfortable. 

Notes

John Pickering and Partners LLP- Specialist mesothelioma compensation solicitors

We are a specialist personal injury law firm.  We have been handling claims for industrial disease for over 30 years.  Most of our work involves acting for asbestos disease victims.  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 pledge to donate 10% of our net profits every year to good causes that help asbestos sufferers.  Click here to find out 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 find out about our reported cases.  We are on the panels of several asbestos support groups and are ranked highly by legal guides.  Click here to 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 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).

According to the British Lung Foundation, 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 British Lung Foundation, supported by John Pickering and Partners LLP, launched the first Action Mesothelioma Day on 27th February 2006, 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 working with asbestos.

If you need advice about an asbestos related illness, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.

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