Asbestosis

Many people will refer to an asbestos related condition as asbestosis but it is a condition in its own right and separate from other asbestos related illnesses. Asbestosis tends to be detected 20 years or more after your first contact with asbestos dust.

Click to view Fentons Solicitors recent industrial disease case studies.

People who regularly came across asbestos as part of their job were:

• Laggers
• Thermal insulation engineers
• Ship yard workers
• Asbestos manufacturing workers
• Women who assembled gas masks during the war
• Building workers
• Plumbers
• Gas fitters
• Carpenters
• Electricians
• Painters and decorators

Asbestosis is a gradually progressive condition. In the early stages there may be no symptoms at all and there are no characteristic symptoms of the disease. As the industrial disease progresses, the asbestosis victim would generally find that there is more breathlessness and coughing which they may have initially attributed to smoking if this has been one of their past times.

Investigations as to whether asbestosis is the illness can be by way of chest X-ray, lung function test or CT or MRI Scan.

Whether a claim for asbestosis is successful will depend on the extent of exposure to asbestos dust. It would also be necessary to pursue an industrial disease compensation claim against all parties exposing the victim to asbestos. It requires specialist knowledge to be able to trace the insurance companies of employers where the company has ceased trading and because of this, legal advice should be sought as soon as the diagnosis is made.

Benefits are available for sufferers of asbestosis and your industrial disease solicitor will be able to provide information about these.

Please follow the link for more information about the process of making a claim for an asbestos related disease.

Click to view our Industrial Diseases brochure.

Lung Cancer
Workers who were exposed to asbestos have an increased risk of lung cancer where there has been significant exposure. There is also evidence that where those exposed to asbestos have also had exposure to cigarette smoking then the combined risk is not merely additive but multiplicative.
There is no way of distinguishing, either clinically or pathologically between lung cancer caused by asbestos and lung cancer caused by smoking and specialist legal advice will be necessary in order to obtain the correct medical evidence in order to prove your claim and that the lung cancer was caused by asbestos.

Where lung cancer is proven to be caused by industrial exposure to asbestos benefits may be awarded such as Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
 

How can Fentons help?
If you think you have a case, or require further assistance with an asbestos claim, why not call our freephone helpline on 0800 019 1297, or fill in the brief disease claim form.