DOZENS of men and women are dying every year from ‘Swindon Disease’ as the deadly legacy of workplace exposure to asbestos continues to takes its toll.
The most recent figures show 107 people have died from industrial-related illnesses in Swindon and Wiltshire in the past three years alone.
The region is part of a wider timebomb which, under the worst-case scenario, could claim 2,100 lives nationally at its peak in 2016.
The building material was so prevalent at Swindon’s railway works and other factories that mesothelioma, an asbestos-related cancer, and other related illnesses were nicknamed after the town.
Former employees have described how fibres of the chemical used to blow around like “snow” at the works, which closed in March 1986. Many remained healthy into retirement only to be struck down a couple of years after diagnosis.
Years of legal battles culminated in a landmark decision in March which gave victims and their families a chance to win compensation from firms that exposed them to the substance.
The Supreme Court ruled insurance liability was triggered from the time an employee came into contact with the substance, rather than the point at which symptoms appeared.
The decision will pave the way for hundreds of new claims, judging by figures obtained from the Wiltshire coroner’s office under the Freedom of Information Act.
Last year 26 men and four women died from industrial diseases, compared with 37 men and eight women in 2010 and 28 men and four women in 2009.
The majority of cases stem from employees breathing in fibres in industrial workplaces, but there are other sources of contact adding to the figures.
Source: swindonadvertiser.co.uk
(Edited for claimsnews.co.uk - Read the original here)
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