Pensioner’s asbestos fight
John Cooper reports on the heartbreak of the workers whose lives have been blighted and cut short by exposure to asbestos
PENSIONER Wayne Phillips, 70, has told how he was handed a death sentence after working with asbestos for years without being warned of the lethal dangers.
“At that time, asbestos was the saviour,” he said.
AFTER spending years of your life working, it’s a devastating diagnosis to be told that your day job is now killing you.
Hundreds of men and women in Wales are being slowly poisoned every year by historic exposure to asbestos.
Few survive the cancer mesothelioma for more than 12 months after diagnosis.
The cancer causes shortness of breath, chest pain and a cough, and for which there is no cure.
Many of those diagnosed in Wales are exminers, construction workers or those who worked in other industrial occupations in the 1960s and 1970s, when 170,000 tonnes of asbestos was imported to the UK each year.
Every year the number of people diagnosed with mesothelioma grows as the consequences of working or coming into contact with asbestos 50 or 60 years ago become apparent.
Latest figures show that between 2016 and 2018, 263 people in Wales – often previously fit and healthy – were diagnosed with the disease.
The dangers of working with asbestos were first documented in the early 1900s, but it wouldn’t be until 1999 that the potentially deadly material was made illegal in the UK.
Many industrial workers worked day-in dayout with asbestos, breathing in the deadly fibres from the material that would cause the onset of mesothelioma decades later.
The greater the exposure to asbestos, the greater the risk of developing mesothelioma.
Even washing the clothes of someone who worked with asbestos can be dangerous and lead to the disease taking root.
According to figures from the Health and Safety Executive in 2017, 2,087 men and 439 women died from mesothelioma in the UK.
And the threat of asbestos didn’t disappear with the 1999 ban.
Homes, schools and other buildings constructed before 1985, when a partial ban on some types of asbestos came into force, may well still contain asbestos as insulation.
Having asbestos in your home or school is not dangerous until the material is disturbed, and specialist contractors can be called in to remove it safely.
Many families are coming to terms with the shock of a mesothelioma diagnosis for their loved one.
Wayne Phillips, 70, from Aberdare, has undergone years of chemotherapy and immunotherapy for terminal mesthelioma.
He made a successful compensation claim through Hugh James against his former employer, the construction firm George Wimpey, after being exposed to asbestos when working as an apprentice carpenter on building sites in the 1960s.
“At that time, asbestos was the saviour, it was everything. It was even used in ironing boards, but I was using it in sheets for roofing,” he said.
“I was exposed to it for five or six years, but not constantly. The danger wasn’t known at the time for what I can remember. I wasn’t offered a mask, nothing. I’d be breaking up bits of asbestos and they’d fall on me and I’d breathe it in.”
Four years ago, Wayne started to experience pain under his arm and across his chest. At first, he thought it might have been a pulled muscle from working out at the gym.
“It took a while to diagnose it. I saw an article in the newspaper about a nurse helping someone who thought they had a damaged rib and saying they had been suffering with pain for a long time. They found out what it was and said there was nothing they could do about it – I wrote the name down of what it was, took it to the doctor and said ‘this is what I’ve got,’” added Wayne.
He said that the diagnosis had come as “quite a shock” to him and his wife, Patricia – Wayne had never smoked, rarely drank alcohol and exercised regularly at the gym.
“It is difficult, it’s terminal, so I’m having radiotherapy now. It won’t do much to the cancer, but it helps a bit with the pain,” he said.
“It absolutely changes our life overnight. We used to travel all over the world, but I’ve been unable to go on holiday because I can’t get insurance.”
Wayne was awarded a settlement from his previous employer.
“That was marvellous,” he said.
“The money is handy, but we can’t really spend it because of my situation at the moment. We’ve got an allotment but I can’t dig really. I’m finding it hard to exert myself and I can’t walk very far.”
Sadly though, for the thousands of men and women who were exposed to asbestos, the acknowledgment of its deadly effects has come far too late.
Roy Clift, from Duffryn Rhondda, was exposed to asbestos working for two stalwarts of Welsh industry – the National Coal Board and Ford Motor Company – spanning six decades.
While working for the National Coal Board between 1945 and 1966, Roy worked at Nantewlaith,
Duffryn Rhondda and Caerau collieries as a fitter.
It’s alleged that Roy was required to work on asbestos brake pads on diesel locomotives and remove pipe work which was clad with asbestos.
Between 1966 and 1991, he worked at the large Ford plant in Swansea.
During this time, it’s believed that Roy regularly came into contact with asbestos-lagged pipe work.
Sadly, Roy died of mesothelioma in 2016, just weeks after he began to show symptoms.
Cardiff-based solicitors Hugh James helped Roy’s family secure a six-figure settlement from the National Coal Board and Ford Motor Company in May.
His wife, Sadie, said: “It was a complete and utter shock. We realised Roy had worked with asbestos in the past, but didn’t realise how dangerous it was.
“He became short of breath and, within a matter of weeks, his condition deteriorated rapidly and he passed away before we really had time to come to terms with it.”
Sadie and Roy’s grandson, who asked not to be named, remembered his grandfather as being “full of life and a happy, jolly man”, until weeks before he died at the age of 86.
“Grandad would always be singing,” he said.
“He loved music and he’d have the whole family around, he’d be on the piano and my uncle on guitar, we’d get together for a bit of a drink.
“He worked hard all his life and all the hours that god sent. He was a very fit, big strong man and full of life up to five weeks before he died. The cancer came over him all of a sudden and it just went downhill rapidly.
“He got diagnosed with pneumonia at first, but one night he came downstairs and said ‘I can’t breath’ so I said we had to take him to the hospital.
“He was in for a couple of weeks and was only diagnosed [with mesothelioma] three days before he died.”
Roy was told by medical staff at the hospital that he had an industrial illness and he started legal action in the days before his death.
“It’s heart-breaking to be honest. The compensation won’t bring Roy back, but it will make my life a little easier,” Sadie added.
Many other are wrestling families with the devastating diagnosis.
Ken Dymond, 78, from Pembroke Dock, worked with asbestos in refineries and ships in Pembrokeshire.
He is claiming against a number of his former employers after being diagnosed with mesothelioma in February.
His daughter, Joanne Wiseman, told of the family’s shock.
“I’d never heard of it [mesothelioma] to be honest,” she said.
“I had to get someone to translate it for me so I could pronounce it properly. When you learn those words, you just wish you’d never heard them. It was a real shock.
“He had symptoms before not being able to breathe properly. He was lethargic, lost weight and had tests and biopsies, the diagnosis came on the last day of February.”
Ken was able to get his diagnosis with the help of Sarah Morgan, from charity Mesothelioma UK and another charity Asbestos Awareness & Support Cymru [AASC].
“Jo [from AASC] pointed me in the right direction. We had no idea we could claim compensation.
“The life expectancy isn’t very long and I would like people like my dad to have compensation while they’re alive and healthy. Realistically, these people are often waiting too long for compensation.
“My dad paid with his life for going to work – that’s the hardest thing to cope with,” Joanne added.