How family members of an asbestos worker can make an asbestos claim

Each year, many people make asbestos claims following a diagnosis of mesothelioma, asbestosis, emphysema or another asbestos-related disease. Most of those who suffer from these diseases used to work with asbestos, before the danger of the tiny fibres was realised. Read more about what asbestos-related illness is.

Those most at risk of developing an asbestos-related disease are plumbers, builders, brake mechanics, shipyard workers and insulators, as well as many other types of construction workers and engineers. Read more about occupations exposed to asbestos.

Families of asbestos workers
However, the workers are not the only people to have been affected by asbestos and they are not the only ones to now be making asbestos claims. The families of people who came home covered in asbestos dust were also put at risk at the time and some wives and children have been shown to have developed asbestos-related diseases as a result.

It is more common for the wives of workers who came into contact with asbestos to develop diseases like mesothelioma than their children. This is because the wives usually washed and cleaned the dust out of their clothes, unknowingly putting themselves in great danger.

A study carried out in 1986 by four researchers screened 93 wives of asbestos workers for signs of early asbestos-related disease. They discovered that 18 of the 93 women had indications of pleural plaques, diaphragm plaques, pleural calcification and pleural thickening, which are all typical of damage from asbestos. Read more about pleural plaques.

In further research, they carried out the same screening on the husbands of 17 of the 18 women with symptoms of asbestos-related disease. 14 of these men had more severe symptoms than their wives, indicating that the amount of exposure to asbestos was directly linked with the pleural changes they were experiencing.

However, children of asbestos workers still have some chance of developing one of the related diseases, especially if they had close contact with overalls left dusty with asbestos. The youngest person to contract mesothelioma did so in exactly these circumstances and sadly died aged just 32 in 2004.

Making asbestos claims as a family member
It can be more difficult to make an asbestos claim as the wife or child of someone who worked with asbestos and brought the fibres back on his clothes than as the worker himself. This is because the worker would be covered by employer liability whereas his family, as non-employees, would not necessarily be covered.

Despite this, it is quite possible to successfully claim asbestos compensation as a family member who has become ill. If you are in this situation and would like to get personal injury compensation, we can help.

Our solicitors have specialist knowledge of asbestos claims and can provide the expert legal advice and assistance that you need in this complex area of law. They have helped numerous other people to successfully claim for illnesses such as mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer and have an excellent success rate.

There are absolutely no costs or fees to worry about when making an asbestos claim with us and we guarantee that you will receive every penny of any compensation that is awarded to you - there will be no deductions.

If you would like more information about making an asbestos claim, simply chat to us online via our e-chat facility, leave us a call back request for the time you would most like to be contacted, fill out an online claim assessment form or telephone our 24-hour advice line on 0800 10 757 95.