If you have worked with asbestos dust and fibres, such as using textured wall-coatings,
or cutting of asbestos boards, without any or adequate protection you may be able
to claim.
A wide variety of industries have potentially exposed people to asbestos fibres
which cause asbestosis and related diseases. Any exposure to asbestos could cause
one or more of the following:
- Pleural plaques - This can lead to the development of lung cancer in the future,
though it has no immediate symptoms and is unlikely to cause any immediate disability.
- Pleural fibrosis/thickening- This is similar to pleural plaques, but it is the thickening
of a much larger area of the lungs and usually affects both lungs. Again this can
lead to lung cancer in the future.
- Asbestosis - Symptoms may include crackling of the chest when breathing and clawing
of the fingers. Asbestosis can lead to cardiac failure.
- Lung cancer - Symptoms of lung cancer can be in the form of coughing, chest pains
and breathing difficulties.
- Mesothelioma - Symptoms can include coughing, shortness of breath, abdominal pain,
loss of appetite and weight loss.
There are three different types of asbestos: blue, brown and white. Blue and brown
asbestos were banned in the UK from the mid-1980’s but a ban on white asbestos did
not come into force until November 1999.
If you need advice relating to one of the above conditions please call the PM Law
Industrial Disease team on 0114 256 5444 or submit your details
on our brief online help form and one of our legal consultants will contact you
at a convenient time.