MORE WORKERS SHOULD CLAIM

THE impact of asbestos on a worker’s health usually does not come to light until many years after exposure, at which time the employer’s insurance details have sometimes been lost or destroyed, making it impossible for victims to pursue compensation.

People dying of the fatal asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma can now turn to a payment scheme in this event, which provides redress to help make them comfortable in their final months.

This development from the government last year came after several years of campaigning by many victims groups, including the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, of which I am an executive committee member based here in Manchester.

We think it is the least a person should be entitled to when handed a death sentence simply for turning up for work many years before.

But the many workers suffering, and dying, from asbestos-related cancers and industrial diseases other than mesothelioma are excluded from the scheme.

This new government can, and should, start making positive change by extending the scheme to help those people who find themselves in a horrifying situation because an employer failed to protect them. Bridget Collier Fentons Solicitors