1979 A Workers Compensation Act was created by the UK Parliament.
It was a recognition of all the illnesses caused since the various environmental hazards through employment were understood and classified.
Silicosis:
Silicosis is a long-term lung disease caused by inhaling large amounts of crystalline silica dust, usually over many years.
Silica is a substance naturally found in certain types of stone, rock, sand and clay. Working with these materials can create a very fine dust that can be easily inhaled.
Once inside the lungs, it causes swelling (inflammation) and gradually leads to areas of hardened and scarred lung tissue (fibrosis). Lung tissue that’s scarred in this way doesn’t function properly.
People who work in the following industries are particularly at risk:
stone masonry and stone cutting – especially with sandstone
construction and demolition – as a result of exposure to concrete and paving materials
Pneumoconiosis refers to a range of diseases that are caused by the inhalation of a range of organic and non-organic dusts which are then retained in the lungs. The main types of pneumoconiosis are –
Asbestosis
Berylliosis
Byssinosis
Coal Worker’s Pneumoconiosis (also known as “black lung”)
Records of those involved employed in the extraction of coal. Modern coalmining began from the early 18th century with coal miners frequently changing places of work.
After WWII, the coal industry was nationalised with the establishment of the National Coal Board in 1946. In 1987, it was renamed as the British Coal Corporation and later its assets were privatised. In 1994, the newly established Coal Authority assumed control over the management and licensing of coal mines and other management issues.
Coalminers had few employment rights and therefore coalmine owners had little need to keep records of those in their employ in the 19th century. The frequent movement of the miners between pits has resulted in very few extant employment records. As coalmining evolved into a more permanent means of earning a living, the personnel records increased in the quality and coverage. If the name of the colliery is known, the local record office should hold employment records. If the colliery is not known, then the records of the surrounding collieries will have to be consulted. The Durham Mining Museum has a useful finding aid on its web site …..
Mines were nationalised after the war, and remained so until Mrs Thatcher’s Conservative government, 1980:
Between 1945 and 1951, Clement Attlee’s Labour government nationalised numerous major industries, including coal, electricity, railway transportation, and telecommunications. Broadly, such industries were nationalised to further the public interest; accordingly, the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946 reads, “There shall be a National Coal Board… charged with the duties of:
a) working and getting the coal in Great Britain, to the exclusion (save as in this Act provided) of any other person.
b) securing the efficient development of the coal-mining industry.
c) making supplies of coal available, of such qualities and sizes, in such quantities and at such prices, as may seem to them best calculated to further the public interest in all respects, including the avoidance of any undue or unreasonable preference or advantage.”
History of delays in gaining compensation for coal miners:
1999: Record compensation for miners
Ex-miners suffering from lung diseases have won the biggest industrial injuries case in British legal history with a compensation deal worth £2 billion.
Up to 100,000 ex-miners could be eligible for compensation under the deal which ends 14 months of negotiations between their lawyers and the Department of Trade and Industry.
Negotiations ended just before the deal was unveiled at the High Court in Cardiff.
“These miners worked in some of the worst conditions in the world.” Energy Minister John Battle
Already 65,000 ex-miners, including 15,000 widows of those who died after developing work-related illnesses, have already registered claims but there are expected to be thousands more applications.
But many miners have not received compensation, 25 years after the 1999 announcement of the right to receive it.
Pneumoconiosis – which blackens the lungs due to dust inhalation – on average yields between £30,000 and £50,000 varying on its severity, according to industry experts.
However, families have contacted both Stephanie and Dan – who represent Barnsley East and Barnsley Central respectively – to complain about the government’s handling of claims.
The NUM have also reported that its members have found it difficult to access the funding that they are eligible for following assessment of their conditions.
Stephanie said: “I was pleased to meet with the Yorkshire branch of the NUM alongside other former coalfield MPs from the region.
Asbestosis is a rare but serious lung condition that affects people exposed to asbestos(a building material usedfrom the 1950s to the 1990s).It cannot be cured, buttreatment may improve the symptoms.
You may be able to claim compensation if you get asbestosis.
Symptoms of asbestosis
Symptoms of asbestosis include:
shortness of breath
persistent cough
wheezing
extreme tiredness (fatigue)
pain in your chest or shoulder
in more advanced cases, clubbed (swollen) fingertips
It can take 20 to 30 years after being exposed to asbestos before symptoms appear.
There are sometimes no symptoms.
Causes of asbestosis
Asbestosis is caused by exposure to asbestos.
You may have been exposed to asbestos if you worked in an industry such as building or construction, particularly from the 1950s to the 1990s.
You could be exposed to asbestos today if your job involves working in certain roles in old buildings.
Examples include:
heating and ventilation engineers
demolition workers
plumbers
construction workers
electricians
There are many ways asbestos can harm you. We all probably know someone who developed an illness and died from it. My cousin, a science teacher, died from mesothelioma, a cancer caused by breathing in the dust of asbestos whilst in employment. Someone else I knew, a neighbour when I lived in North East England. Also conracted mesothelioma from breathing in asbestos whilst in his lifelong career working in a power station. He could prove the link. My cousin was unable to. It is a horrible way to die.
People continue to die from exposure to asbestos dust today.
Hundreds of thousands of miles of pipes, across the UK, are made from asbestos cement delivering drinking water to people around the world, but are reaching the end of their lifespan and starting to degrade. Scientists are now debating whether this could pose a risk to human health. How long will that debate go on, or will it be the proverbial ‘can kicked down the road’ as who will pay for the repacement of pipes?
Asbestos cement has been used extensively to make corrugated and flat sheets, as well as other moulded products such as flower planters, coal stores, low-pressure and high-pressure flues and pipework, as well as junction boxes, heat resistant mats and flash guards.
It is when it ages and degrades that it has become a problem.
Compensation for a personal injury following exposure to asbestos is available to individuals who have gone on to develop and be diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease that is causing a disability.
These diseases include:
Mesothelioma
Asbestosis
Asbestos-related diffuse pleural thickening
Asbestos-related lung cancer
In order to claim compensation, an individual needs to be able to say how they were exposed to asbestos.
It is also possible for a family member to claim on behalf of a loved one if they have passed away from an asbestos-related disease, or they do not have the capacity to bring a claim forward themselves.
If someone is diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, they have three years from the date of their reasonable knowledge of their diagnosis to start the claims process (known as the limitation period – this is standard for all personal injury claims). If an individual was diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease more than 3 years ago (outside of the limitation period), this would mean they have run out of time to make a claim.
Asbestos contamination is a threat to many populations in the world. Here is an article by an American consultant, albeit he is making his money through offering a service to locate its existence:
The Presence of Asbestos in the Environment
The previous section set the stage for exploring the next topic. The presence of asbestos in the environment shows clear evidence of long-standing risk. The US Bureau of Mines recognised asbestos dangers in 1932.
Swift Creek in Everson, Washington, recorded asbestos levels up to 43% in some dried samples. The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed asbestos contamination in studies from 2006.
Asbestos is found in both rural and urban areas, especially in drinking water with ranges from nondetectable levels to 1 million fibres per litre.
I experienced a similar concern during fieldwork that revealed distinct asbestos exposures. Hundreds of millions have faced asbestos exposure every year worldwide. Local samples show asbestos concentrations outdoors remain below 0.0001 fibres/ml in rural areas.
Urban readings also stay low, yet variable. I noted firsthand the environmental contamination that persists in places such as Swift Creek. The presence of asbestos in the environment continues to pose health risks that warrant careful monitoring and proper management.
The application of asbestos in building construction have happened over decades as it seemed a good idea at the time:
Why is asbestos dangerous?
Asbestos still kills around 5000 workers each year, this is more than the number of people killed on the road.
Around 20 tradesman die each week as a result of past exposure
However, asbestos is not just a problem of the past. It can be present today in any building built or refurbished before the year 2000.
When materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases. These diseases will not affect you immediately; they often take a long time to develop, but once diagnosed, it is often too late to do anything. This is why it is important that you protect yourself now.
Asbestos can cause the following fatal and serious diseases
The accumulated knowledge base on preventable employment-related hideos illnesses should see us all in a safe environment by now, but deregulation pressures and avoidance of responsibility by those making their wealth through construction work ensures these diseases will be with us for many years to come.
Compensation to those afflicted, and their families, will also be a long time coming.
This does not need to be the case. It took centuries to arrive at the Workers Compensation Act in the UK.
But mostly it is the lawyers who are the “ambulance chasers” who have benefited the most.
It was kings, barons, lords and knights who always took the profits off the labour of the poor. Now they have been replaced by oligarchs and corporates, who also exploit the middle class who used to be their buffer to the working class. The plan seems to be that only the elite will remain, but who will serve them then?
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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