Victims of ‘ticking timebomb’ cancer die without receiving justice, lawyers say
People are still dying from a ‘ticking timebomb’ cancer, caused by exposure to asbestos at work, without receiving justice.
Workers from industries including shipbuilding, construction, and power generation from the 1950s to the 1980s and even later, unknowingly breathed in asbestos fibres, which decades later can cause terminal cancer.
In the East Riding area in Yorkshire there were 442 mesothelioma asbestos cancer deaths among men and 66 among women between 1981 and 2024, according to the latest figures from the Health and Safety Executive. In North Yorkshire there were 576 deaths among men and 108 among women. In York there were 260 male deaths. In Leeds there were 873 deaths among men and 306 among women. Asbestos was heavily used in the past in the area in industries, including shipbuilding.
But some do not receive compensation, or receive a severely reduced amount, from the employers responsible for the exposure due to a “gap in the law,” said Daniel Easton, an expert in industrial disease from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
“Two of the cancers that workers who were exposed to asbestos can develop are mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer, which are so similar that doctors sometimes confuse them when making a diagnosis,” explained Daniel.
“The Compensation Act allows mesothelioma victims to receive full compensation even if they can only trace one of their former employers, or their insurers, responsible for exposing them to asbestos. But lung cancer victims must still trace all the firms responsible to get full compensation and if they can’t trace them, they lose out. It’s grossly unfair,” he said.
“In both cases, the claimant has to prove their illness was caused by asbestos, so there is no doubt about the cause, but sick claimants miss out because they cannot trace all their past employers.”
“Records for firms from 40 or 50 years ago have often been lost or destroyed, or companies no longer exist. It’s unjust to expect people with a terminal disease to hunt down records for numerous employers in their dying days, and it can be impossible,” said Daniel.
“July marks 20 years since the Compensation Act was passed. It’s time to make a very simple law change so that victims of lung cancer caused by asbestos at work can receive full compensation, without the need to find all their past employers,” he added.
APIL, in a joint campaign with the Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum (AVSGF) has joined forces with MP Douglas McAllister calling for the law change.