Plans to help sick & dying workers must go further, says Karl Tonks
Plans for a fund of last resort to compensate workers with asbestos-related lung cancer mesothelioma are a significant step in the right direction.
But while the fund will provide much needed redress to many sick and dying workers, the proposals still fall short of ensuring that all innocent victims of industrial disease are compensated properly.
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has campaigned for more than a decade for the introduction of a workplace fund of last resort, also known as an employers’ liability insurance bureau.
Such a fund is needed because the onset of symptoms for long-tail diseases, such as mesothelioma, can occur decades after a worker has inhaled asbestos fibres. Because of the historic nature of these claims, it can be impossible for a victim to trace his employer, and his employer’s insurer, to bring a claim.
Consistently argued
APIL has consistently argued that insurers should not be allowed to dodge their responsibility of paying compensation simply because policy documents cannot be traced. It is
