A painter who now has a skin condition which has limited the work he can do after he was exposed to irritants at work has received £15,000 in compensation.

The 61-year-old from South Tyneside developed a sensitivity to paint after 40 years in the trade.

He developed a rash on his face after being exposed to industrial paint made by Leights, whilst working for Barrier UK as a subcontractor at BAE Systems in Cumbria.

The wrong type of safety mask failed to protect him from epoxy resin contained in the paint.

He was given steroid cream by his work’s GP and was removed from working with paint.

Thompsons Solicitors made claim for compensation

Despite not having any further exposure to the irritants over the course of the next few weeks he developed the rash on four other occasions, and it took five days each time for it to clear up.

In total he had to take 12 days off work. Since his contract with Barrier came to a natural end last year he’s found it difficult to find work, in part because he can no longer work with industrial paint.

Following his diagnosis he instructed Thompsons Solicitors to investigate a claim for compensation. Barrier settled the claim out of court.

The painter said: “I have been a painter for 40 years and I’ve never had a problem like this before. As soon as the rash appeared I knew it must be related to my job and the onsite GP confirmed this.

“It’s a difficult time to find work as it is at the moment and the fact that I can no longer work in my lifelong trade is making it even harder for me. This compensation will help financially but what I really want is to get back to work as soon as possible.”

Sean Cook from Thompsons Solicitors added: “Our client was exposed to an irritant which has left with a lifelong sensitivity to industrial paint and blighted his future employment prospects. Retraining at a time when you should be preparing for retirement is very hard.”