You are here: Home > Services for Individuals > Personal Injury Claims > Industrial Diseases

Industrial Diseases

Industrial disease is such a wide area and covers so many possibilities we can only scratch the surface in these guidance notes. For advice on making a compensation claim for industrial disease or industrial illness, speak our specialist in industrial disease claims, Neille Ryan on 0845 603 1057. 

To make a personal injury claim click here.

Guidance notes on industrial disease or illness claims

  1. Your complete work history including dates of employment, names and addresses of employers and a brief job description for each employer – we need this because even though you may feel that, for example, your deafness could only be as a result of working for employer A when we look into your work history we discover that you were also exposed to excessive noise at employers B and C.
  2. Full details of the history of development of your illness / disease – when were your first symptoms, what were they, when did you first seek treatment, what is your understanding of the medical advice you were given on each occasion, at what point did you suspect or were you advised that there was a link between your condition and your work. If you have any of your medical records then we would like to see these as well.
  3. Do you know of anyone else who did the same or a similar job to you and who has contracted the same or a similar illness / disease? If so please provide us with details.
  4. What steps did your employer take to protect you from contracting that illness / disease? For example in a deafness claim, did they provide you with any ear protection, did you have regular hearing tests, if your hearing tests revealed the start of a problem were you moved to a less noisy environment? How effective were the protection measures the employer took? Using deafness as an example again, if they did provide ear defenders then were these always available? If not, why not? If available were they worn all the time? Again if not, why not – perhaps it was impractical to use ear defenders. In which case why and did the management know about it?
  5. Did your employer ever do anything which made you think they were aware of the risk of you contracting your illness / disease – for example did they hold meetings / seminars about your illness / disease, circulate any documentation about it?
  6. Did you ever complain to your employers about the protection they offered (or lack of it), did you ever complain to them about your symptoms? Did you suggest solutions, in which case how did the employer react? Did they act on your suggestions or not?

Evidence is vital when claiming for industrial disease

Evidence is vital – not only documentation but also witness evidence, in particular when it comes to proving what really went on in a workplace. Often employers claim to have operated systems which offered reasonable protection to employees, but we frequently find that while in theory / on paper those systems were in use, in practice they often failed / were impractical / were unavailable.

If, when you have provided us with your evidence and we have investigated the claim further, we think that there is a claim then another stumbling block is establishing whether the employer is still in existence and, if they are, can their insurers for the period in question be traced? There is little point in pursuing a claim for damages unless there is someone who, at the end of the matter, has the means to pay you.

Once the employer / insurers have been traced then we have to notify them of the claim and they basically have 6 months in which to investigate it and admit / deny liability. This is known as the ‘protocol period’.

Where a decision has been made to proceed with the claim then we will need at least one medical report confirming the illness / disease from which you are suffering and giving an opinion on the cause. It sometimes happens that a Claimant attributes their illness / disease to a former occupation but careful analysis by medical experts establishes a completely different cause for which there is no claim. For example, respiratory illnesses are often attributed to dust exposure at work but can also be caused by such things as cigarette smoking.

It may be necessary to obtain expert evidence on the work system which was in operation from someone such as a Consulting Engineer, to establish what your employer should have been doing, compared with what they were actually doing to protect you and whether, if they did fail you in any way, that failure is sufficient to warrant a claim.

We have experience and expertise in acting for a whole host of occupational illnesses / diseases including vibration white finger, chronic bronchitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asbestos related diseases, occupational asthma and work related stress.

For more information on making an injury claim for industrial disease, contact Neille Ryan, or any member of our Personal Injury Claims team.

Quick contact

Furley Page Solicitors in Kent, London, Canterbury, Chatham & Whitstable
Get in touch on 0845 603 10 57