Stockton Council told to alert former teachers and students about asbestos diseases
Leeds, 10 October 2011 – An asbestos victim’s son today called on local government to alert his late father’s former colleagues and pupils that they also may have contracted the deadly disease.
Nick Teasdale of Billingham said that Stockton Borough Council which controls what was Billingham Campus School, now known as Northfield School, where his father was exposed to asbestos in the 1960s should inform former staff and pupils from that time that they may also have been exposed and could potentially have developed asbestos related diseases.
Mr Teasdale’s late father, Norman Teasdale, worked at the school from 1962 to 1975 as a woodwork and metalwork teacher. His classroom, which adjoined the saw room where site maintenance staff would routinely cut asbestos sheets to size, was often covered in asbestos dust emanating through the adjoining door and via the convector heating system.
Norman Teasdale was diagnosed with pleural plaques, the asbestos disease, in June 2009 but was given no advice on his condition or how to manage it. After his condition progressed to mesothelioma, he pursued a compensation claim through his trade union, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and their disease claims experts, Morrish Solicitors. Mr Teasdale died aged 72 in October 2010 and his compensation claim settled for a substantive sum in favour of his widow, representing his injuries and the loss of earnings to his surviving family.
Nick Teasdale said “Dad knew of at least one other colleague from Billingham Campus, the late Mr Alan Dent, who had died of mesothelioma two years after he was diagnosed. I will bet there are others. And not just the teachers either. The students, who might still only be in their 50s and 60s, were also exposed to asbestos in those classrooms. Stockton on Tees Borough Council should let these people know what’s going on.”
“It is a terrible thing to watch your loved one die from an asbestos disease. Seeing the state that asbestosis puts a person in, makes it all the worse. Before the disease took hold, Dad had been a strong, vital man. He had completely done up the family home himself, fitted all the woodwork, the windows and done the painting. By August 2010 he literally did not have the strength to lift a hammer. He lost almost half his body weight. It was heart-wrenching to watch the disease take its toll. Others who worked with Dad will now face their own version of that battle,” said Nick.
He praised ATL’s support for his late father, saying “Obviously this is not a place you ever want to be, but the assistance we received from ATL and Dominic at Morrish’s was unsurpassed. Without that kind of guidance, you’d be in no man’s land. To Dad’s former colleagues and students, I would say get yourself proper expert help now. You will need a helping hand from someone who knows what they are doing.”
Dominic Hughes, a Solicitor at Morrish Solicitors, said today “Asbestos related diseases are devastating to the victim and their families and present some very technical legal problems to the solicitors who handle them. Over the last decade the insurance industry has launched a series of challenges in the Courts which have made it increasingly difficult to obtain fair compensation, if that is the right phrase, on behalf of the victim and those who are left to care for them, and of course the bereaved families. Not only are there a number of complex legal issues involved, but medical evidence in relation to the nature and extent of the condition is recognised by the Courts as being particularly complicated.
“Trade unions and their solicitors have a long and successful history of representing members who are unfortunate enough to suffer with this terrible condition. With their specialist expertise and experience, the financial and legal might of the insurance industry is well matched. Trade unions continue to campaign on this issue without which many people would suffer without justice. Members will continue to enjoy unequalled quality of representation and support from trade unions at no financial cost to them despite the efforts of the insurers and this current government to deny them justice,” said Mr Hughes.
Exposure to asbestos fibres, even in microscopic amounts, is known to cause the fatal asbestos disease mesothelioma, which can take 15 to 25 years to develop. In October 2007 a House of Lords ruling ended the right of pleural plaques victims to claim compensation for their injuries through the Courts, a decision which was described as “handing insurance companies a £1.4billion windfall”.
The nation’s education trade unions today renewed calls for government to proactively manage asbestos in schools following the recent publication of the Health and Safety Executive’s figures on enforcement action taken against schools. The enforcement was the result of a round of inspections of mainly non-local authority schools.
The Joint Union Asbestos Campaign said today that legislation and the fear of prosecution are both key drivers in dutyholders’ decisions to actively manage asbestos in schools, whereas deregulation of the HSE is a disincentive.
Ends. For further information, please contact Vanessa Charters at Morrish Solicitors on 0113 297 9844.
Notes for Editors:
1. Joint Union Asbestos Campaign: comprises of the six main education unions: Association of School and College Leaders; Association of Teachers and Lecturers; National Association of Head Teachers; NASWUT; National Union of Teachers; Voice; plus the education sections of UNISON, Unite, UCATT and the GMB.
2. 20 December 2010, Jamie Hanley, Partner at Morrish Solicitors and member of the Labour Party’s National Policy Forum, said in a statement https://www.morrishsolicitors.com/news_single.php?id=245 that the House of Lords’ decision to end the right of pleural plaques victims to claim compensation for their injuries through the Courts “was a real blow for those ordinary working people who had been negligently exposed to asbestos and developed this condition, handed Insurance Companies a £1.4billion windfall. This is a wrong that still needs to be put right.”
