Industrial Asthma Claims

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If you would like an initial free assessment of your potential occupational asthma claim, please either:

Occupational asthma

Asthma can be caused by exposure to harmful substances at work.

If you are already an asthma sufferer, then dust and fumes at work may trigger chest tightening on inhalation.

If you did not previously have asthma, then this is referred to as "occupational asthma".

Criteria for a personal injury claim

To succeed in a compensation claim for occupational asthma, we need to prove that:

• Harmful dust or fumes, called sensitising agents, are present in the workplace, and
• Sensitisation to this particular substance has caused your asthma, on a balance of probabilities.

Sensitising agents

Occupational or industrial asthma has previously arisen from exposure to a variety of sensitising agents, including:

• Isocyanates
• Epoxy resin
• Dust from the milling, transportation or storage of flour
• Wood dusts
• Glutaraldehyde
• Dusts created in the food processing industry

Known industries and activities

Occupational asthma is known to arise within a variety of industries and activities including:

• Polyurethane foam manufacturing
• The spraying of polyurethane paints
• Paint manufacture
• The use of two-part epoxy resin paints and adhesives
• Carpenters
• Joiners
• Papermill and sawmill workers
• Hospital disinfectants

Has your work caused your occupational asthma?

We would need to prove that your asthma is work-induced if it gets worse during the working week overall, although not necessarily the moment you re-enter the workplace.

Often the asthma symptoms may only occur or get worse after leaving work, sometimes interrupting sleep.

Secondly, the asthma symptoms would tend to diminish when away from the workplace, although it can take several days to notice any improvement. Occupational asthma can take weeks, months or even years to develop.

Thirdly, we must prove that your condition did not have its true origins elsewhere.

Avoiding occupational asthma

Where there is a risk of industrial asthma caused by work, employers must act to protect their employees by taking steps such as:

• Sealing off any equipment producing hazardous substances
• Fitting extractor fans
• Providing a mask and/or protective clothing.

Case Study

We are currently acting for a client in Birmingham, whose job involved assembling plastic components for the motor industry.

Part of her job involved using a jet weld thermoset adhesive, containing Diphenylemethane Diisocyante.

As a result of her work, she developed severe breathing difficulties and her employers terminated her employment on the grounds of ill-health.

A personal injury claim was advanced on her behalf, as a result of which liability was admitted.

Industrial asthma claim