You couldn’t see them for dust

Summary:

Each year in the UK thousands of people die from asbestos-related diseases from past exposures at work. Much of this long-term tragedy can be blamed on the historical vested interests of stakeholders.

My Uncle Reg was sitting on his living-room sofa, next to a tank of oxygen. It was the late 1960s. Periodically, he’d attach a face mask and take a suck of oxygen. He had asbestosis, a form of pulmonary fibrosis. He died soon after and my aunt (my dad’s younger sister) received a lump-sum compensation. The childhood memory of a frail man struggling to breathe is haunting. Reg had been employed at Devonport Dockyard, Plymouth. Years after he died, I was told that he had never worked with asbestos, but his workplace was near to where it was being fabricated…

 

Dr John Ballard is editor of Occupational Health [at Work]

Author: Ballard J

Tags asbestos cancer mesothelioma occupational disease

Occupational Health at Work April/May 2025 (vol. 21/6) pp03

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