On Action Mesothelioma Day, marked on 4 July, leading industrial disease law firm Thompsons Solicitors is campaigning alongside families affected to remind policy makers that the worst is yet to come.
Mesothelioma is a fatal form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. It is currently responsible for over 2,500 deaths each year in the UK and has robbed over 30,000 people of their lives to date.
A report, released by the Health & Safety Executive, makes the harrowing estimate that the peak of asbestos-related deaths had not yet been reached, with over 45,000 deaths from mesothelioma predicted between 2011 and 2030.
Lisa E. Moss, from Liverpool, lost both her father and uncle to mesothelioma. She is urging the government improve awareness of a preventable disease that on average is killing six people every day in the UK.
“The government needs to recognise the devastation this illness continues to cause. Asbestos is the biggest industrial cancer killer of the twenty-first century and yet it’s constantly couched in terms of a ‘problem from the past’,” said Lisa.
Lisa’s father Billy Moss died two months after he was diagnosed with the mesothelioma, just two years after her uncle had died from the same disease. She was supported in a case against her father’s former employers by asbestos compensation specialists, Thompsons Solicitors.
“Thompsons were relentless in their search to track down the two companies that were liable for my father’s death in order to bring them to book. My dad loved his work as a wagon driver but he should never have been put at risk by his employers.
“An ethical government would take the issue of asbestos exposure seriously. A just government would support victims and their families in securing access to justice. Instead, this government quite literally seeks to brush this deadly dust under the carpet, ignores the massive public health risk while negligent employers and their insurers attempt to shirk the financial compensation they owe to the families devastated by asbestos disease,” continued Lisa.
When pursued by Thompsons, the insurers of the haulage companies that Billy Moss worked for accepted responsibility for negligently exposing him to asbestos which ultimately led to his death.
Ian McFall, Head of the National Asbestos Litigation Team at Thompsons Solicitors, said: “We have more experience of representing asbestos victims than any other law firm. We see first-hand the devastation of families and communities caused by asbestos disease.
“And asbestos is still very much a problem of the present. The number of deaths continue to rise, workers continue to be put at risk and there remains a chronic lack of government will to highlight and face up to the issues faced in communities up and down the UK. That is why, acting only for the injured and never for the insurers, we will be unstinting in campaigning alongside those who know and understand the real cost of this devastating disease.”
Asbestos disease diagnosis? Talk to us for advice and support on how to secure compensation.
If you or a loved one have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, we can support you with advice on how to make a claim.
The process will be explained in plain English and with no obligation – our priority is to provide you with the best, expert advice on whether you have a valid case for compensation, and to signpost you to further sources of support.
There are strict time limits applied to making a claim – usually three years from the date of diagnosis. It doesn’t matter if the exposure to asbestos took place – as it often does – decades ago, the three year time limit applies to the date of knowledge of diagnosis or date of death.
For further information, visit our How to Make A Compensation Claim page.