People are still dying from a ‘ticking timebomb’ cancer, caused by exposure to asbestos at work, without receiving justice.
Workers from industries including shipbuilding, construction, and power generation from the 1950s to the 1980s and even later, unknowingly breathed in asbestos fibres, which decades later can result in them developing terminal lung cancer.
Around 5,000 people die from work-related asbestos diseases each year in the UK. Asbestos was used in the past in industries such as shipbuilding, construction and manufacturing before it was banned.
Latest Health and Safety Executive (HSE) data shows that hotspot areas for the rate of deaths among men from mesothelioma asbestos cancer in Great Britain are West Dunbartonshire (1st), South Tyneside (2nd), North Tyneside (3rd) Portsmouth (4th) and Plymouth (5th), which all have past links to shipbuilding*.
Hotspot areas for deaths among women are Barking and Dagenham (1st), Sunderland (2nd), Newham (3rd), West Dunbartonshire (4th) and Leeds (5th). By taking into account the local area’s population, the rate shows how likely deaths are in different areas.
But some victims do not receive compensation, or receive a severely reduced amount, from the employers responsible for the exposure due to a “gap in the law,” said Daniel Easton, an expert in industrial disease from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
“Two of the cancers that workers can develop when they were exposed to asbestos in the past, are mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer, which are so similar that doctors sometimes confuse them when making a diagnosis,” explained Daniel.
Around 2,500 people die from mesothelioma each year – and the same from asbestos-related lung cancer.
“The Compensation Act allows mesothelioma victims to receive full compensation even if they can only trace one of their former employers, or their insurers, responsible for exposing them to asbestos. But lung cancer victims must still trace all the firms responsible to get full compensation and if they can’t trace them, they lose out. It’s grossly unfair,” he said.
“In both cases, the claimant has to prove their illness was caused by asbestos, so there is no doubt about the cause, but sick claimants miss out because they cannot trace all their past employers.”
“Records for firms from 40 or 50 years ago have often been lost or destroyed, or companies no longer exist. Insurers have often failed to keep proper records which is not the fault of the workers. It’s unjust to expect people with a terminal disease to hunt down records for numerous employers in their dying days, and it can be impossible,” said Daniel.
“July (25th 2026) marks 20 years since the Compensation Act was passed when the government decided to ensure full compensation for mesothelioma victims. It’s time to make a very simple law change so that victims of lung cancer caused by asbestos at work can receive the same full compensation, without the need to find all their past employers,” he added.
APIL, in a joint campaign with the Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum (AVSGF) has joined forces with MP Douglas McAllister calling for the law change.
Mr McAllister said: “The dangers of asbestos were well-known to employers at the time. Victims will have worked hard and be looking forward to a well-earned retirement with their families only to be told that their lives are to be cut cruelly short.
“Tracing the necessary documents to receive compensation is a lengthy, if not an impossible, task for lung-cancer victims. The very least we can do is to ensure they have the compensation they need for necessary therapies, care, and comfort in their final days,” he added.