Industrial Disease

What is industrial disease?

Industrial disease claims can include things such as deafness due to excessive noise exposure, respiratory diseases such as asthma, asbestos related conditions and dermatitis due to exposure to irritant chemicals.

Industrial disease specialist

Our industrial disease specialist Ian Corbett has over 25 years of experience of dealing with all types of personal injury claims and has developed a specialism in industrial disease which isn't matched by anyone else in the area. He has helped hundreds of local people claim the compensation they deserve.

Successful outcomes

Examples of how Ian has helped clients include:

• Our client worked as an electrician at a local UPVC factory. Because of the substantial amounts of water required for this process, special care needs to be taken to prevent bacteria build up. The water is therefore infused with bromine. Unfortunately, whilst the client was adding the bromine dust to the system in an inspection duct, a ventilation fan blew back a quantity of dust in his face which he inhaled. This aggravated the client's pre-existing asthma and caused him to develop hyperventilation syndrome, a condition where the patient is unable to control their breathing such that they breathe too deeply or too rapidly. As a result, the client was unable to return to work in the factory.
• Our client worked as a lathe and milling machine operator. These machines require coolant, if the coolant isn't properly maintained, bacteria will rapidly build up. This produces a respiratory hazard. The client developed a severe type of pneumonia and as a result was unable to return to work in the factory or the industry generally because of the risk of the condition recurring. We were able to persuade the defendant's insurers that their systems for maintaining and monitoring the quality of their coolant were inadequate.

Both claims were successful and settled out of Court. Most claims do eventually settle though a small percentage do have to go to trial.

If you think you have a claim for compensation as a result of industrial disease, contact Ian Corbett on 01623 782 080 or email him on icorbett@hopkins-solicitors.co.uk