Hanna moves to extend cancer compensation scheme

Minister for Employment and Learning, Carmel Hanna, MLA, has announced, in a written answer to the Northern Ireland Assembly, that she is extending the compensation scheme for sufferers of respiratory industrial diseases to include qualifying mesothelioma sufferers.

The Minister explained that her decision followed the “Fairchild judgement” made by the Court of Appeal in Great Britain in December. The 'Fairchild Judgement' ruled that a worker who had been exposed to asbestos dust by more than one employer, could not succeed in a claim for damages against those employers unless they could show which one of them was responsible for the exposure that caused the illness.

Fairchild, and the other cases heard with it, concerned the asbestos which caused cancer mesothelioma. This occurred when a single cell in the lung lining was damaged and underwent malignant transformation. If there had been more than one employment involving exposure to asbestos, there was no means of determining from which employment the fibre or fibres was derived which brought about the malignant transformation. The disease is also almost always fatal within two years of its appearance.

Commenting on the ruling, Carmel Hanna said: “This is a dreadful disease and I do not think that it would be right if employees, former employees or their dependants were left without recourse to some level of compensation as a result of this judgement. As an interim measure, therefore, I am extending the compensation scheme, administered by my Department under the Pneumoconiosis etc (Workers Compensation) Order 1979, to cover the making of payments to qualifying sufferers from mesothelioma who are affected by the judgement in the Fairchild case.”

The Pneumoconiosis (Workers’ Compensation) scheme covers respiratory industrial diseases caused by dust on behalf of sufferers, or, if the sufferer had died, their dependants. Diseases covered in the Order include: pneumoconiosis; byssinosis, associated with cotton dust exposure; diffuse mesothelioma, an asbestos related cancer.

The scheme was designed to help people unable to take court action to recover damages from an employer. A one off lump sum ranging from £1,992 up to a maximum of £56,568 is payable, depending on circumstances.

(KMcA)