Industrial disease sufferers ‘should be compensated by insurers’

Posted 26/04/2010

The insurance industry needs to do more to help people suffering from -related industrial diseases, according to one leading insurer.

It can be difficult for people who develop conditions such as asbestosis and mesothelioma due to exposure to in the workplace to claim compensation.

Many of the companies which used before it became known how dangerous it is are no longer trading and it has proved impossible to trace their insurance policies.

David Neave, The Co-operative Insurance’s head of general insurance, said it is unacceptable that some people with industrial diseases do not receive compensation.

He called on the insurance industry to set up a fund to settle compensation claims from workers who are unable to trace their former employer’s insurers.

“On a balance of probability we believe that the majority of ceased businesses probably did have adequate insurance and therefore it is only fair and equitable that these claims should be honoured,” Mr Neave added.

Simon Davis, a personal injury partner at Ashtons Legal who specialises in -related disease claims, comments: “We are delighted that a major insurer supports the efforts made to ensure that sufferers from -related disease and their families are assured of support in what can be very difficult times.

“Too often those sufferers receive nothing when the risk was known to their employers many years ago, simply because the insurer can’t be found. The proposed scheme will help enormously.”

According to the Health and Safety Executive, remains the biggest cause of work-related deaths and it is believed more than 2,500 people die each year as a result of being exposed to the substance.