Industrial Disease
What is an Industrial Disease?
An industrial disease is an impairment of health, condition of abnormal functioning or disability resulting from conditions of employment. It is sometimes referred to as ‘Occupation Disease’.
The personal injury department at Crossmans Solicitors, which has recently merged with Fenbrook Solicitors (London), has considerable expertise in the law surrounding Industrial Disease claims, including:-
- Asbestos Related Diseases
- Skin Diseases
- Vibration White Finger
- Respiratory Diseases
Asbestos Related Diseases
Asbestosis
Asbestosis is a condition featuring scarring of the lungs caused by inhaled asbestos fibres. Asbestosis is irreversible. It tends to lead to COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), a progressive disorder that can be disabling or fatal.
When asbestos fibres lodge in the lungs and penetrate through the intestinal tract, they can also lead to lung cancer or to mesothelioma (see below)
Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer (malignancy) that most frequently arises from the cells lining the sacs of the chest (the pleura) or the abdomen (the peritoneum).
Most people with malignant mesothelioma have worked on jobs where they breathed asbestos. Others have been exposed to asbestos in a household environment, often without knowing it.
An exposure of as little as one or two months can result in mesothelioma 30 or 40 years later. As a result, people exposed in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, and 70’s are now being diagnosed with mesothelioma because of the long latency period of asbestos disease.
Bilateral Diffuse Pleural Thickening and Pleural Plaques
According to the Health & Safety Executive, there were 375 new cases of disablement in the year 2006 due to this disease, although this figure is likely to be a substantial underestimate. The trend has increased over recent years, but has fallen from 415 in 2005 to 375 in 2006.
The pleura is a two-layered membrane which surrounds the lungs and lines the inside of the rib cage. Some asbestos fibres inhaled into lungs work their way out to the pleura and may cause fibrosis or scarring to develop there. This causes the pleura to thicken and this may show up on a chest X-ray or CT scan. Pleural thickening occurs in two forms:
- Diffuse pleural thickening extends over a large area and may restrict expansion of the lungs, leading to breathlessness; and
- Pleural plaques are localised areas of pleural thickening, that don’t usually interfere with breathing.
Skin Diseases
Occupational skin disease may be defined as any disorder of the skin which is caused by or made worse by work or any workplace activity.
The 2006/07 Self-reported Work-related Illness survey estimated that there were 29 000 people with "skin problems" which they believed to be work-related. In addition, there were over 3500 cases of occupational skin disease in 2006 reported by dermatologists and occupational physicians reporting in the THOR (EPIDERM and OPRA) network.
Vibration White Finger
Vibration white finger is a disorder of the blood supply to the fingers and hand which can be caused by regular use of vibrating hand-held tools. Vibration White Finger is the most commonly prescribed disease under the Industrial Injuries Disability Benefit scheme for the last ten years.
Sufferers from vibration white finger may have a permanent loss of sensation in their fingers, causing difficulty in picking up and manipulating small objects. However, while vibration qualifies for compensation under the IIDB, the loss of sensation does not.
Respiratory Diseases
We are able to act in a variety of cases involving respiratory diseases, including:
- Asthma
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Farmer's lung and other allergic alveolitis
- Pneumoconiosis and silicosis
Asthma
Individuals with asthma have chronic inflammation in the bronchi (air passages). As a consequence the bronchial walls swell causing the bronchi to narrow, which can lead to breathlessness. Muscles around the air passages also become irritable so that they contract, causing sudden worsening of symptoms in response to various stimuli, including exposures encountered at work.
The occupations with the highest incidence rate of occupational asthma as recently reported by chest physicians were ‘bakers, flour confectioners’, ‘metal making and treating process operatives’, and ‘vehicle spray painters’.
The 2006/07 Self-reported Work-related Illness survey estimated that there were 142 000 people with "breathing or lung problems" which they believed to be work-related. A substantial proportion of this estimate may represent respiratory diseases other than occupational asthma.
Why us?
Many industrial disease claimants are unaware that their health problems relate to their occupation. Moreover, in some cases a person might still be employed by the same employer. We recognise that these can be sensitive issues. We have acted for people from a wide range of jobs and industries and aim to provide a responsive service which deals with the issues as considerately and efficiently as possible.
Further Advice
If you have any queries with regards to legal advice on industrial diseases or to make a claim for compensation, please do not hesitate to contact our dedicated personal injury team on 01223 362414.