By Alan Selby
Teesside's ongoing asbestos legacy has been exposed after it emerged councils have set aside millions to compensate workers.
The extent of the impact being felt years after council workers were exposed to asbestos was revealed after the local authorities were forced to put aside funds worth nearly £3m for claims this year.
And a solicitor who helps asbestosis sufferers said the number of people coming forward is expected to keep rising over the next few years.
Roger Maddox, of Irwin Mitchell solicitors, added: “It starkly illustrates the continuing legacy of asbestos liabilities, which are a direct consequence of employers who negligently exposed employees to asbestos dust.”
Redcar and Cleveland Council has earmarked £2.5m to deal with industrial claims this year, while Middlesbrough Council's fund totals £252,600.
Stockton Council has similar arrangements in place, but could not provide an accurate total for asbestos-related funds.
The councils were told they must make cash available after the High Court confirmed employers who exposed workers to asbestos were liable for damages, not whoever was employing them when their cancer later developed, as insurance companies had argued should be the case.
But because the Municipal Mutual Insurance company (MMI), which covered industrial claims against councils, had gone into administration, local authorities must now pay for legal action out of their own reserves.
Some 17 former employees are currently pursuing Redcar and Cleveland Council after contracting mesothelioma, the cancer that can develop up to 60 years after contact with asbestos dust.
Norman Pickthall, cabinet member for corporate resources at Redcar and Cleveland Council, said: “Because of the complex nature of asbestos-related illnesses and the significant sums involved, the council has allocated £2.5m to deal with any future compensation claims, although we expect the final cost to the council to be lower. The council’s situation is not unique and like many other local authorities we have been planning for this issue for a number of years.”
The funds only relate to council employees, with the full extent of compensation in the private sector unknown, but one support group has secured more than £1.5m worth of funding for compensation in the past year alone.
Since September 2012 the Northern TUC Asbestos Support and Campaign Group has assisted at least 128 people suffering with asbestos-related cancers, providing support to them and their families.
They say 2,500 new cases develop in the UK every year, and this could become nearly 3,000 each year by 2015 – at the moment about 300 people in the North become ill.
Northern TUC regional secretary Beth Farhat said they were working with Macmillan Cancer Support to offer free and impartial advice and support to anybody in the North-east who had been affected by an asbestos-related disease.
She said: “Unfortunately, the need for groups like ours and support for asbestos victims will only continue to grow over the next 10-15 years at least, as the full-scale of asbestos exposure comes to light.
“However, we aim to provide at least a little comfort – and a lot of practical support to those who find themselves affected by such debilitating illnesses.
“While money won’t buy back sufferers’ health, it is only right that they are provided with the means to have some quality of life, without having to worry about who will care for them or if they can afford to pay vital bills.”
To speak to the support group, contact Maggie Bailey on 07983 883274 or email Maggie.Bailey@tadea-uk.com.
It’s workers like Alan who pay the ultimate price
A devastated widow has paid tribute to her husband who died from asbestos-related cancer while his compensation battle was ongoing.
Sheila Dean’s husband Alan succumbed to mesothelioma in April – 23 years after he retired from a career as a labourer on Middlesbrough’s docks that exposed him to the hazardous material.
At 15 he left school in Whinney Banks, Middlesbrough, to start work that would see him travel across Teesside’s docks as a stevedore responsible for loading and unloading cargo.
His work on Tees Dock saw him carry sacks of asbestos from a Middlesbrough factory on to ships that exported the hazardous material around the world.
And Alan’s death – five days before his 81st birthday – came as legal action against the National Dock Labour Board that was responsible for exposing him to asbestos dust dragged on.
Despite clear health risks linked to asbestos having been discovered as early as 1898, Alan was not given any protective equipment against the plumes of dust that surrounded him while he worked.
And today his family is still fighting for financial security after the huge impact Alan’s disease had upon them.
Sheila, 69, said it had been extremely hard to watch him suffer from the incurable condition. She said: “Mesothelioma is a cruel disease, lying dormant in the body with no telling symptoms, striking as if from nowhere years later.
“Alan’s unexpected death has impacted enormously on us as a family. Alan was a fit and healthy man with no medical conditions and taking no medication.”
And Sheila added that it was years before any sign of the disease became apparent in Alan.
She said: “We are grateful that Alan got to enjoy 23 happy and healthy years of retirement with his family, spending our winters in sunny Spain and our summers enjoying the garden and playing bowls, which he enjoyed so much.”
Ian Toft, an asbestos claim expert at Irwin Mitchell solicitors, said Alan’s condition showed how employers who had negligently exposed workers to asbestos were ruining lives decades later.
He said: “I have been working with victims of asbestos exposure now for over 10 years, yet I am still stunned by the conditions so many of my clients were working in at a time when their employers should have known of the risks presented by asbestos and taken the necessary steps to protect their workers.
“Now we have the tragic scenario of honest working men like Alan suffering the consequences of their employers’ inaction.”
