Pleural plaque victims ‘must be allowed compensation claims’

Posted 01/10/2009

Workers who suffer from pleural plaques as a result of work with should be allowed to make compensation claims, according to a campaigner.

Anne Craig of the Mick Knighton Mesothelioma Research Fund has called for the government to heed recent industry calls for compensation rights to be restored to sufferers of the industrial disease.

Unions such as Unite and the Union of Construction, Allied Trades and Technicians (Ucatt) are among the bodies to demand a change to laws which currently prohibit pleural plaque victims from pursuing legal action.

Ucatt general secretary Alan Ritchie last month stated that reinstatement of this right was a matter of “social justice”.

Ms Craig concurred with this view, telling the Shields Gazette that pleural plaques can often be a precursor to more serious conditions such as the fatal lung cancer mesothelioma.

She said: “Any pressure which can be applied on the government to restore compensation for pleural plaques is to be welcomed.”