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Mesothelioma compensation recovered for wife of former oil refinery worker

This case study demonstrates the expertise of our Chemical Poisoning & Asbestos team who recently negotiated a significant sum for the wife of a former oil refinery worker who had been exposed to asbestos while working at the Stanford-le-Hope oil refineries.

A significant sum has been paid to Mrs L as compensation following her husband’s death from mesothelioma. Mr L had worked in the Stanford-le-Hope oil refineries for most of his working life. These refineries were riddled with asbestos and despite concerns being expressed at Health and Safety meetings, virtually nothing was done for many years to protect those working there.

In the course of his employment there, Mr L was involved in rigging pipes and in repairing or replacing pipelines, pumps and other equipment. On occasions his work involved cutting into pipework and removing old asbestos lagging. Most of the time the stripping out of old asbestos lagging was undertaken by laggers who also mixed up new asbestos lagging by tipping dry asbestos powder into a large drum. The laggers undertook this work whilst Mr L stood alongside them. We interviewed a number of witnesses and were repeatedly told that there was a massive amount of asbestos in these refineries.

We argued that a number of breaches of the employer’s duties to protect employees had been breached under the Factories Act 1961 and/or the Construction (General Provisions) Regulations 1961 and/or the Construction (Working Places) Regulations 1966 and/or the Asbestos Regulations 1969.

The case was resisted and sadly, Mr L died before we could recover any compensation for him. However, with the accumulation of witnesses we were able to negotiate a fair settlement for Mrs L. Mrs L was very pleased that the claim originally brought by her husband was successful.

Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP specialises in industrial disease cases. If you would like to ask our team a question about a potential case, or if you have a general query about any personal injury, contact Jonathan Herbert at Thomson Snell & Passmore LLP solicitors on 01892 701226 in confidence.

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