Occupational chest disease
Withy King can assist the recovery of compensation when an employer (negligently or in breach of its statutory duty) exposes a worker to harmful chemiclas either causing chest disease or worsening a perhaps already present or constitutional condition.
Occupational Asthma
Occupational asthma can be caused or constitutional asthma worsened by exposure to certain chemiclas at work. In the UK, di-isocyanate exposures, notably toluene di-isocyanate from exposures in occupations such as spray painting and other work involving urethane varnishes or foams, certain waterproofing agents and so on are the most common reported categories of causative agents.
Another important causal agent is colophony fume, from soldering especially in the electronics industry. Colophony arises from pine resin and contains abietic acid, and other resin acids which are used as fluxes in soldering.
However, a very wide range of chemicals, and of agents of biological origin, have been described as causes of occupational asthma.
Asbestos related illness
Asbestos has been utilized for many purposes since around 4000 BC when it was first used for making wicks and candles. In the 1870s the “modern” asbestos industry started, with England, Scotland, Germany, Canada and Russia all mass -producing asbestos boards. In the 1890s the first reports of concern about the health of asbestos workers were noted.
The term asbestosis was first used in the British Medical Journal in 1927. Asbestosis is defined as “fibrosis of the lung as a result of the chronic inhalation of asbestos fibres”. Exposure to blue or brown asbestos dust can cause mesothelioma, a tumour of the pleura, which is the lining of the lung. Mesothelioma is an aggressive tumour, leading to death usually within 18 months or so of diagnosis. The link between blue asbestos and mesothelioma was made in 1960 by Wagner et al. Various regulations and Acts then followed which limit ed exposure to asbestos and ultimately prohibit ed the use of harmful asbestos in all sorts of everyday products and buildings (in 1997 it was thought that asbestos was used in 3000 products).
Read more detailed information about asbestos including its history and symptoms.
