If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, you may be able to seek compensation for your illness.
How is asbestos harmful?
Asbestos is a fibrous material used extensively in building and manufacturing from the 1700s onwards because it had strength, durability and insulating properties, and because it was a naturally-occurring mineral. However, it took many years to discover that the loose fibres of some types of asbestos could be linked to a number of lung-related illnesses, some of them fatal. The use of asbestos has been banned in the UK since 1999.
How can you claim for an asbestos-related disease?
Despite the new use of asbestos being banned, existing asbestos can still be found in old buildings and materials such as in wall cladding, insulation, tiles and tile backing, cement, plaster and Artex and in old textiles. An employer or contractor knowingly asking someone to work with or near these materials, or unwittingly exposing someone to such materials without making suitable precautions, opens themselves up to being liable for a future illness or possibly even a fatality.
An employer or contractor therefore has to carry out suitable risk assessments on all their activities and must adequately train employees on risk, exposure and handling asbestos materials.
Why are asbestos-related disease claims so complicated?
If sufficient exposure to a harmful form of asbestos has occurred, the symptoms can take between 10-40 years to become noticeable. This becomes evident by the victim suffering chest pain, difficulty breathing, coughing and being tired and slow. Common variations of asbestos-related illness include asbestosis, non-cancerous thickening of pleural cavity of the lungs and mesothelioma.
First of all, in order to make a claim for an asbestos-related illness you need to be professionally diagnosed as having the disease. However, because so much time has potentially elapsed since the exposure occurred, proving liability or tracing the responsible people or organisation can be very difficult. This is why you need a specialist asbestos disease claims solicitor who is experienced in dealing with asbestos-related disease claims.
Determining responsibility can require some detailed historical research, and in some cases a business may have ceased trading. Even if a former employer can be traced, you then have to find evidence which proves negligence or liability. This can be challenging and extensive, but our solicitors are here to help.
How Ison Harrison can help with your asbestos-related disease claim
Ison Harrison has expert solicitors ready to carry out the research and fact-finding required to establish liability in asbestos related disease claims. We can help you prove negligence of a former employer, and in the tragic event that a loved one has died from a historic case of an asbestos –related disease, we can help you secure compensation for wrongful death.
Call us on 0113 284 5000 or email pi@isonharrison.co.uk
