The Lindsey Oil Refinery explosion and subsequent blaze raises safety fears not only as a result of the tragic loss of life of one of the workforce and injury to others, but also due to the potential release of deadly asbestos dust into the atmosphere.

 

 

In light of this risk to health, workers at the site rightly raised concerns about their personal safety and refused to return to work until the area had been declared safe. Their fears were based upon the fact that over many decades large parts of the refinery, like many others around the UK, was insulated with tons of asbestos lagging  The risks associated with heavy exposure to asbestos dust have been known for many decades and laws were introduced in the early 1930’s dealing with safe working with asbestos.

 

As the years rolled on, and more and more became known about the heath risks of working with asbestos more stringent rules and regulations were issued. By the mid 1960’s medical research indicated that even small exposures to asbestos dust had the potential to causes the incurable asbestos cancer, mesothelioma. Sadly, very little seemed to be done to guard against these risks even in light of this knowledge and it was often only the intervention of trade unions and pressure groups which brought about improved  safety measures for dealing with asbestos materials.

 

Asbestos based building materials continued to be used even after knowledge that exposure to the fibres released from it may cause incurable disease.. By the time that asbestos lagging was eventually subject to much stricter control,  thousands of tons of asbestos lagging had by then been applied to refineries, power stations, chemical plants and so on; in fact anywhere that needed to be protected from heat and fire.

 

Ironically, it was in fact fire which raised concerns at Lindsey. The intense blaze is thought to have caused the lagging to break down and release dust onto the site and its surrounds. The work force, now more aware of the risks posed by the dusts then their predecessors, were aware that exposure to asbestos dust has the potential to bring about diseases such as mesothelioma many decades later. This terrible disease can take anywhere between 10 to 50 or more  years to develop and take the victims life.

 

The answer to the risks posed by asbestos materials in the past was often not the complete removal of the material but sealing it in. Paints, panelling and non asbestos lagging are all employed in encapsulating the deadly substance. Waste asbestos once removed has been known to be buried, dumped in ponds and simply bulldozed and built over. Almost every day the news carries stories of asbestos materials being unearthed and raising safety worries long after its existence has been forgotten.

 

Recent notable examples of this situation arising, like a form of deadly archaeology, include building work being halted on Poole’s Twin Sails Bridge, York Swimming Pool, a Hull Trawler being converted to a museum piece, the Olympic Stadium and hundreds of schools, flats and public buildings. Regulations now require that all  buildings within certain criteria be surveyed and the presence of asbestos and measures for its handling be noted. Cleary asbestos materials will not be found  in all derelict and empty buildings. Such surveys may never be undertaken making future development work like walking though a minefield.

 

Lack of knowledge, or complacency about the dangers posed by asbestos is becoming all to common. Indeed despite mesothelioma claiming thousands of lives each year many people have never heard of the disease until it takes a member of their family.

 

Further information:

 

 

Freephone: 0808 144 0959 

Email: dc@johnpickering.co.uk

 

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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