Asbestos Exposure and Dockers
Despite the fact that the last type of asbestos was banned over twenty years ago, almost a hundred people a week still die from asbestos disease. New diagnoses of asbestos-related illnesses are being made every day in the UK.
In all probability, most people recently diagnosed with an asbestos-related illness were exposed to asbestos a minimum of twenty-five and possibly as many as fifty years ago. It remains a tragic fact of asbestos disease that the period from exposure to developing symptoms is a long one.
Asbestos-related illness is classed as an industrial disease. Exposure to asbestos in the workplace was rife before it was banned, in two stages, in 1985 and finally in 1999.
If you cannot find the information that you are looking for, simply contact us using this form or by calling us on 0800 987 8809. We will be only too pleased to try and help you.
Protecting health. Enhancing awareness. Working towards a safer future.
Asbestos in Shipyards
Workers in certain types of industries were at high risk of asbestos exposure. Those who worked in shipbuilding were in danger of suffering from heavy doses of asbestos exposure because ships were heavily laden with asbestos insulation and working parts that contained asbestos. The popularity of asbestos for many companies was that it had highly effective heat-resistant qualities.
Dockers and Asbestos Exposure
Although not involved in the building and maintenance of ships, dock workers, or ‘dockers’ as they are more commonly known, were at high risk of suffering asbestos exposure. For them, the dangers posed by asbestos dust and fibres came from loading and unloading cargo into a ship’s hold.
The work of a docker was dirty, hot and physically demanding. It was also precarious. Until 1967, the National Dock Labour Board (NDLB) employed dock workers on a casual basis under a scheme set up by the government in the 1940s.
The NDLB allocated workers to particular shipping companies using a system called the ‘pen’. Men who missed out on being assigned to a ship would be given general labouring jobs on the docks. Not only were these the most poorly paid jobs, but they were also the dirtiest. This work often involved sweeping dust (including asbestos dust) from the holds of ships and around the dockyard.
In the 1960s and 70s, ships containing asbestos cargo came into Hull docks from asbestos mining countries such as South Africa, which was once the world’s third largest producer of asbestos.
If a ship’s cargo included asbestos, the working conditions were even more dusty than normal.
Dockers were provided with a set of hooks, each used to pick up different types of cargo. The ‘Bag Hook’ was used to pick up and carry bags containing asbestos. The cargo was contained in the ship’s hold. Asbestos arrived in hessian sacks. The docker’s job was to go into the hold, pick up the bags using the hook and load them onto a ‘set’ so that they could be hoisted off the ship en masse by a crane.
Often bags of asbestos would arrive already torn, which meant that asbestos was all over the hold by the time the ship arrived at the dock. Furthermore, the hessian bags ripped easily, resulting in more loose asbestos powder being scattered throughout the hold. Damaged sacks were such a problem that some employers hired tailors to go onto the ships and sew the sacks back up again in an attempt to prevent them from leaking. Most former dockers believe this was to preserve precious cargo and wasn’t done for the health benefit of the workers!
Unsurprisingly, asbestos was everywhere. Dockers and labourers working in and around the hold could not fail to breathe in large amounts of asbestos. Conditions were not helped by the fact there was little or no ventilation in many ships holds, especially immediately after the hold had been opened up following the ship’s voyage.
What type of personal protective equipment (PPE) was given to workers?
Given the conditions under which dockers were required to work in the 1960s and 70s, it seems inconceivable that they were not provided with breathing protection. However, little or no protection was provided. If masks were ever made available, they were cheap, muslin types that offered very little protection at all.
Types of asbestos disease that affect dockers
There are four main types of asbestos disease that former dockers can get. They are:
There is currently no cure for mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused only by asbestos. Life expectancy for mesothelioma sufferers is generally between 12 and 18 months. For lung cancer, the prognosis is only a little better than it is for mesothelioma.
Whilst asbestosis and pleural thickening are not cancers, they both cause severe breathing problems for the sufferer and acutely affect their, and their family’s, way of life.
Who could a docker claim asbestos disease compensation from?
In 2007, the court of appeal ruled that the National Dock Labour Board (NDLB) owed a duty of care to two former Liverpool dockworkers. Both suffered asbestos-related illnesses after unloading asbestos contained in hessian bags from ships belonging to a shipping line that went out of business and whose insurance details could not be identified.
However, the court ruled that the NDLB owed a duty of care to the two asbestos claimants, which it had breached, and therefore the NDLB was ordered to pay each claimant asbestos disease compensation.
The importance of this case is that a docker’s asbestos claim can be made against the NDLB instead of against individual shipping companies who may no longer exist and whose insurance details cannot be found.
Dockers Asbestos Disease Claims
Whilst no compensation can bring back the health or lives of dockworkers affected by asbestos disease, asbestos disease compensation does provide some freedom from financial insecurity for asbestos sufferers and their families.
For former dockers who lived and worked at the docks at Hull, Grimsby and Immingham from the 1950s through to the 1990s, the possibility of developing asbestos symptoms remains a real threat. It should be added that many people who historically worked at the docks and handled asbestos will have lived and even died without ever having been affected by asbestos illness. Such is the lottery of the disease.
If you are worried that you might have the symptoms of asbestos disease, such as breathing difficulties or chest pains that have not otherwise been diagnosed, then making an appointment with your GP is the first step to take.
If you are a former docker, who has been diagnosed with asbestos disease and are considering making an asbestos disease claim, call James Burrell, an experienced asbestos disease solicitor at Bridge McFarland LLP solicitors in Hull. James has successfully recovered asbestos compensation on behalf of many former dockworkers who worked at the docks in the East of England. He handles most asbestos disease claims on a No Win No Fee basis.
Asbestos Awareness is dedicated to informing, educating, and supporting people in relation to asbestos-related diseases.
For further information, or to speak to a member of our experienced medical personal injury solicitors, please call 0800 987 8809. Alternatively, you can fill in this contact form.
Quick Contact
To discuss making an asbestos compensation claim, please complete the form below to receive an email or a phone call from us.