Widow awarded compensation after asbestos death

Posted 04/01/2011

A widow has been awarded compensation after her husband died from the industrial disease mesothelioma.

Charles Tipping, 91, had worked for the Great Western Railway in Swindon for many years and was exposed to deadly asbestos fibres repeatedly during his apprenticeship and afterwards, This is Wiltshire reports.

He worked in railway sheds where he had to repair boilers covered in asbestos dust and would also have breathed it in from pipelines.

Mr Tipping contracted mesothelioma and died in February 2009. His widow Mary Tipping took legal action against the railway company and has now been awarded £95,000 for her loss after it admitted liability.

“He was a true gentleman and is sorely missed,” she said of her husband.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, four plumbers, 20 tradesmen, six electricians and eight joiners a week die from exposure to asbestos.

This amounts to some 4,000 deaths in Britain a year.

Simon Davis, who specialises in asbestos-related disease claims, comments: “Time and time again we hear of men and women dying from exposure to asbestos dust many years ago. It is in the nature of asbestos-related disease that it does not show itself until 20 years or more after exposure.

It is sometimes said that employers weren’t aware of the dangers before the mid 1970s. HM Inspector of Factories first warned of the dangers in 1898 and the first deaths from asbestos exposure were confirmed in 1906.

Tracing an insurer if the employer is now defunct is essential but solicitors in this field share information regularly to ensure someone is brought to book. It is important to go to a solicitor experienced in asbestos work to ensure that compensation is secured quickly and effectively.”