The man, Mr P left school when he was 16 and spent a couple of years working for Sherwood Steel, after which he left, aiming to pursue a career in the army.  As this did not work out, he did some work at a bus depot before returning to Sherwood Steel, where he stayed until around 1986.

Work in old building created exposure to asbestos

Mr P then went to work for K.M. Chairs (Retford) Ltd., which was owned by the same people who owned Sherwood Steel, and, whilst in a different building, was based in the same yard as Sherwood Steel.  His employer then bought additional premises in Chesterfield and Mr P moved to those premises to prepare them. This was a large old stone build building that had previously been used by different types of businesses, including a jam factory, a fish smoking business and a bedding company.  He worked in these premises for about 12 months.

During his time there, Mr P was involved in a lot of alteration and preparation work, such as taking down walls and ceilings, changing room layouts and building new doorways.  The fish smoking rooms had been lined with asbestos sheets that had to be removed. This was done using a hammer to break the sheets, which were then smashed and ripped off by hand.  This work gave off a lot of asbestos dust. The asbestos sheets then had to be removed and the rubbish swept up, which gave off even more dust.  Another job was sorting out a water sprinkler system that was insulated with asbestos lagging, and again, this gave off a lot of asbestos dust.

Continued exposure to asbestos during maintenance

After the building work had been completed in the new premises, Mr P spent some of his time working on maintenance in that building, which included repairing pipe lagging and making alterations to the building.  He was exposed to more asbestos dust.

Whilst overalls were provided and washed during his time working in this building, Mr P was not provided with face masks nor given warnings about the dangers of exposure to asbestos and asbestos dust.  Around about 1983, Mr P left his employment with K.M. Chairs (Retford) Ltd. and was not exposed to asbestos in any jobs he undertook after that time.

Mesothelioma diagnosed

During 2016, Mr P developed a pain in his side.  It was initially treated as a chest infection, but the pain persisted and after a visit to his doctor, several x-rays and a biopsy, he was diagnosed with mesothelioma.  It was the first time Mr P had been aware that he was suffering from an asbestos-related disease.

Following chemotherapy, Mr P has struggled with pain and had to take everything very steady.  He has now had to give up work, has not been able to continue with everyday chores he used to carry out and needs a lot of help from family. He contacted Graysons to see if he was able to claim compensation.

Graysons has company restored to company register and pursues it for compensation

Graysons had to identify the actual employer so it could pursue the claim.  The company K. M. Chairs (Retford) Ltd. was dissolved and its insurers could not be found.  We were able to find the insurers of K. M. Chairs, but this was a trading name and not a company and its insurer said it was a different company to Mr P’s former employer.  Graysons had to have K. M. Chairs (Retford) Ltd. restored to the company register and was able to secure confirmation from its insurers that it did, in fact, have cover. Graysons issued court proceedings, but Mr P’s former employer did not want to contest liability and we were, therefore, able to negotiate a settlement of £250,000 for Mr P.

If you have been exposed to asbestos during your working life and are now suffering from an asbestos-related disease, or if you are the relative of someone who was exposed to asbestos and has now died as a result of exposure, contact our experts now.  We will arrange a free of charge meeting in which we can discuss your case and assess its potential for success.

You can also find out more about making a claim for exposure to asbestos on our website.