We can help you claim
compensation following an accident
illness or injury - nationwide
Call: 0800 10 757 95
Around one in five workers in Scotland is thought to be employed in some form of shift work, with the vast majority of these taking on at least one night shift per week. Aside from the obvious risks, such as fatigue leading to a night worker becoming involved in a Scottish accident claim, the United Nations has found that there are others more insidious and perhaps, ultimately, more deadly.
According to the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a branch of the UN, night shift work increases the risk of cancer, perhaps by as much as 100%.
In fact, so great is the night work risk thought to be that the UN places it just one place below asbestos on the carcinogen risk scale.
Professor Andrew Watterson, an occupation health specialist with Stirling University, told the BBC that cancer should not be the only concern, "I think we can say there is a big public health problem here.
"The evidence has been good over a long period of time about cardiovascular disease and night work, gastro-intestinal problems and nights.
"Work indicates there may be risks in terms of low birth-weight babies and longer pregnancies for women.
"We don't tend to identify the damage being done where shift working is prevalent and I think that's an error. The damage is there but we don't see it and we don't count it."
Indeed, Scandinavian countries have been much quicker to accept the WHO findings than Scotland and the rest the of the UK. In Denmark, for example, around 30 former women shift workers who have developed breast cancer as a result of working nights have been awarded personal injury compensation.
While the HSE, a body responsible for helping reduce Scottish accident claims, intends to perform its own research into substantiating whether there is any link. A spokesperson comments, "The HSE has been very on the ball in this area and has commissioned a very eminent epidemiologist to examine the risk of working at night and whether there is any link to breast cancer. This report will be completed in 2011."
Leading Scottish accident claim lawyers
If you have had an accident in Scotland, whether it was on the road, while on holiday, or in the workplace, and believe that it was caused by another party, we may be able to help you claim compensation.
The no win, no fee solicitors on our panel are among the leading experts in their respective specialisms and, as they are all drawn from firms governed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, represent the benchmark in professional legal service.
In almost all types of claims, we ensure that your Scottish accident claim will be represented on an entirely cost free basis. This means that you are protected from all possible costs, fees and disbursements. The only exception to this cost free payment model is for claims involving medical negligence, where some limited costs are usually unavoidable.
Furthermore, since we are a 100 percent compensation provider, you can rest assured that no cut will ever be taken.
If you would like to discuss your circumstances with a legal advisor, who can then advise you whether it might be in your interests to proceed, echat, complete an claim form, or call us today, on 0800 10 757 95.
