Asbestos Illnesses in Tyneside
Tyneside has a proud history of building some of the most famous ships in the world, ships which have testified to the skill and dedication of the region's workforce. If you worked on the Tyne between 1945 and 1975 and helped build great ships such as the Northumbria, (the worlds first super tanker), you will know what it took to build them: hard work, dedication, skill.....and asbestos.
From laggers spraying bulkheads and lagging pipes to joiners cutting sheets there were many ways in which you could have had exposure to asbestos. The dangers of asbestos were well known but many employers did too little too late to protect the workforce.
Here is one man's recollection of life on the Tyne in the 1940's...
" I remember going onto HMS Anson in the Walker Naval Yard as a 16 year old in 1940. The vessel was being fitted out and my job as an apprentice electrician involved working alongside asbestos sprayers .
Asbestos was sprayed with a combination of water onto deck heads and bulk heads to insulate the compartments from the cold of the arctic weather and the heat of fire.
We apprentices had great fun making snowballs of the stuff to pelt at your mates, little realising how dangerous it was. In later years, after being exposed to blue asbestos, which is the worst, in the Naval Yard, Swans at Wallsend, Wigham Richardsons, Hawthorn Leslies, you name it, we were finally told that asbestos was lethal. By then it was too late for many workmates.
I have pleural plaques but always worry that something more serious may develop.
What depresses me is the fact that the powers that be knew in the 1930's about the dangers of asbestos but nobody told us!"
Robert Mather, aged 83
If you worked on the Tyne between 1945 and 1975 and have been diagnosed with an asbestos related disease within the last 3 years you may have a good claim for compensation.
Call now on Freephone: 0800 093 3060 for Expert advice
