At Asbestos Justice, we not only represent clients who suffered asbestos exposure at their place of work, but also act for many people who had the misfortune of developing asbestos related conditions like asbestos related mesothelioma, as a result of breathing in harmful amounts of asbestos from their loved ones’ contaminated work clothes.
Due to health and safety failures, it was common in the past for harmful amounts of asbestos dust to be transferred back to the domestic environment of the family home.
Following decided case law, most mesothelioma sufferers have to establish that they were exposed to harmful amounts of asbestos within the family home, beyond October of 1965, although for exposure caused by some companies including Cape Asbestos, the date can argued to be earlier.
We succeeded in a so called “secondary exposure” mesothelioma claim for a client whose husband worked for English Electric Company Limited, East Lancashire Road, Liverpool between 1970 and 1978 approximately. The polluting company eventually became part of GEC and then later, GEC Alston.
Our client’s husband’s role, involved him assembling cookers, which was done by hand. The witness evidence obtained in support of the mesothelioma claim showed that asbestos insulation was used to line the inside of the cookers.
In order to recover mesothelioma compensation on our client’s behalf, we had to prove that our client’s husband returned home from work covered in asbestos dust, some of which will have consisted of asbestos dust.
The evidence showed that our client’s husband would wear a blue boiler suit type overalls for work which were not washed by his employer. He was allowed to bring his work clothes home to wash and we relied upon this health and safety failing to prove negligence in the mesothelioma claim.
Witness statements confirmed that our client’s husband’s overalls would be covered in white asbestos dust arising out of his work with the asbestos insulation on the cookers he assembled.
After her husband had taken off his contaminated work clothes, our client used to go into the garden and shake the overalls. She would see the white dust floating in the air. She would then put the overalls in the washing machine.
Our client washed her husband’s overalls every night when he got home from work, and she would shake the overalls out every day when he got home from work. The overalls were covered in white fibres and were very dusty.
As mesothelioma can develop in sufferers after very low level exposure to asbestos, we were able to show, with the aid of medical evidence, that our client’s exposure to asbestos within the family home had materially contributed to the risk of her developing the disease. This has to be proven to establish causation in all mesothelioma claims.
Thanks to the evidence obtained, we were able to recover over £100,000.00 in mesothelioma compensation for our client.
At present, we are dealing with further claims for mesothelioma compensation where sufferers breathed in harmful fibres from their loved one’s contaminated person and work clothes.
Clearly asbestos exposure, not only has a devastating affect on those who worked with the harmful material but also affects loved ones who came into contact with the deadly dust.
If you require assistance in pursuing a secondary exposure, mesothelioma claim or believe you have any other valid asbestos claim 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.