Asbestos Justice succeeded in another mesothelioma claim for Mr A who was employed by the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority at New Cross Hospital, Wolverhampton, as a carpenter and joiner between July 1972 and December 1984 approximately.
A detailed witness statement was taken from Mr A in support of his mesothelioma claim which provided detailed evidence on his exposure to asbestos when working at the hospital. He described being exposed to asbestos whilst in this employment in a number of ways. He worked in the ducts of the hospital where the pipes were lagged with asbestos. This was a small area and it was difficult to stand up in. it was like a rabbit warren with pipes running through it. There were hundreds of asbestos lagged pipes in the ducts. The lagging was in a poor state of repair. Mr A explained that he brushed against the lagging and dust would come off on his overalls. He could see where the lagging had been removed to repair joints in the pipes. The lagging was just left lying around. He used a torch down in the ducts and there were openings where the sun shone through. He could see dust which contained the asbestos dust in the air, floating in the shafts of sunlight. Mr A walked through the asbestos rubble and disturbed the deadly dust again.
Further allegations on exposure were made in support of the claim for mesothelioma compensation in that Mr A also explained that he encountered asbestos dust when he had to make fire doors in an old part of the building. The doors there were made of pine, and he had cause to fireproof them. He used asbestolux sheets measuring approximately 8 feet by 4 feet. These sheets were stored in the carpenter’s shop in racks. When he had to remove a sheet asbestos fibres would be released into the air.
Mr A cut the asbestolux on low trestles. He used a hand saw to cut the sheets to size. He would be bent over the trestles, sawing the asbestos and the asbestos dust would rise up into the air. The asbestos debris and dust would fall to the floor and the he walked through it. Approximately once a week the asbestos dust and debris was brushed up.
Some of the carpenters used power saws to cut the asbestos and this would create clouds of dust. The asbestos dust would fill the rooms when they were using the power saws. The evidence obtained in support of the mesothelioma claim confirmed that the air would be thick with asbestos and it would settle on the machinery. It would settle on Mr A’s work station and he would brush it off with his hand from the workbench.
When he had cut the asbestolux to size he would drill approximately 15 holes in the sheet using a power drill. He then screwed the asbestos onto the pine doors and screwed plywood on top of the asbestolux to conceal it.
Mr A also used to put asbestos behind the wall heaters, to stop the heat escaping into the wall. He had to cut asbestos sheets again to do this work and he completed the work with a hand saw. He would drill it into the wall behind the heater and then re position the wall heater over it.
Even at times when Mr A was not working with asbestos, others would be and so the exposure to asbestos dust continued.
Mr A explained that for approximately the first 7 years of his employment with the hospital there were no masks provided. It was only after approximately 7 years that a mask was introduced. No warnings were provided about the dangers of working with asbestos and no attempts were made to prevent Mr A being exposed to asbestos in the ways mentioned. Such failures were relied upon as proof of negligence and breach of statutory duty in this successful claim for mesothelioma compensation.
In view of the strong evidence showing that Mr A had been regularly exposed to asbestos we were able to secure an interim sum of tens of thousands of pound of mesothelioma compensation for our client. This assisted him in his day-to-day living.
We managed to recover £170,000.00 of compensation in his successful mesothelioma claim against the health authority.
If you require assistance in pursuing a mesothelioma compensation claim or believe you or a family member have a valid claim for asbestos compensation, please contact us today on our freephone number 0800 038 6767. Alternatively, head over to the ‘Contact Us’ page, complete the form and we will be in touch.