Old Industrial Switchgear.

We doomed, we're all doomed! ?


Leaving aside working in an office with asbestos stickers all over the place, many of us will have had exposure to asbestos dust. Apart from building materials (last year I took down what was left of an Artexed ceiling) we had brake shoes and clutches, exhaust heat shields, etc. and thought nothing of handling it. I still have a car with asbestos insulation in an exhaust box, but an expert has declared it safe for use. Maintenance is a completely different issue.


Asbestosis requires quite substantial exposure and industrial injuries compensation for it is confined to certain trades (e.g. laggers) who would have had daily exposure. It causes inflammation in the lungs and effectively, clogs them up.


Mesothelioma is very different. It is a particularly nasty and invariably rapidly fatal cancer. It is treated differently in law. The lead time may be as long as 60 years.


Just before I left RN, I had some dealings with claims under the inheritance tax rules, which grant an exemption to those who have died as a consequence (at least in part) of injuries sustained during active service. There has been a steady trickle of claims related to mesothelioma. So I had to read up on the science as well as the case law.


The difficulty was identifying when exposure occurred. Walking past lagging on a daily basis is safe. Living on board during refit when there is white dust everywhere was undoubtedly not! In one case, copies of letters sent home by a young officer during the Suez Crisis, which were submitted in evidence, were very interesting.


There have been cases of mesothelioma with no occupational exposure - there is asbestos in the atmosphere. So whilst the necessary exposure may be very small, only one fibre is a bit of an exaggeration.

We doomed, we're all doomed! ?


Leaving aside working in an office with asbestos stickers all over the place, many of us will have had exposure to asbestos dust. Apart from building materials (last year I took down what was left of an Artexed ceiling) we had brake shoes and clutches, exhaust heat shields, etc. and thought nothing of handling it. I still have a car with asbestos insulation in an exhaust box, but an expert has declared it safe for use. Maintenance is a completely different issue.


Asbestosis requires quite substantial exposure and industrial injuries compensation for it is confined to certain trades (e.g. laggers) who would have had daily exposure. It causes inflammation in the lungs and effectively, clogs them up.


Mesothelioma is very different. It is a particularly nasty and invariably rapidly fatal cancer. It is treated differently in law. The lead time may be as long as 60 years.


Just before I left RN, I had some dealings with claims under the inheritance tax rules, which grant an exemption to those who have died as a consequence (at least in part) of injuries sustained during active service. There has been a steady trickle of claims related to mesothelioma. So I had to read up on the science as well as the case law.


The difficulty was identifying when exposure occurred. Walking past lagging on a daily basis is safe. Living on board during refit when there is white dust everywhere was undoubtedly not! In one case, copies of letters sent home by a young officer during the Suez Crisis, which were submitted in evidence, were very interesting.


There have been cases of mesothelioma with no occupational exposure - there is asbestos in the atmosphere. So whilst the necessary exposure may be very small, only one fibre is a bit of an exaggeration.