Belfast Dockers Compensation - Cal Smyth

[ozzyfan1978]

I think all dockers past and present and their families deserve compensation after working in the shipyard and handling asbestos. I think this is what caused their health problems most dockers never seen 50 and how many are left now? My dad died at 46 and started having heart attacks at the age of 32. thats not normal for a man of that age. Almost all dockers have/had ongoing health problems or died young. My dad had chronic back pain and a very weak heart and was in constant pain all the time. I think compensation is the least they deserve. Who knows he couldve been still alive today if it wasnt for his job.

[allymac]

I think all dockers past and present and their families deserve compensation after working in the shipyard and handling asbestos. I think this is what caused their health problems most dockers never seen 50 and how many are left now? My dad died at 46 and started having heart attacks at the age of 32. thats not normal for a man of that age. Almost all dockers have/had ongoing health problems or died young. My dad had chronic back pain and a very weak heart and was in constant pain all the time. I think compensation is the least they deserve. Who knows he couldve been still alive today if it wasnt for his job.

I,for one,totally agree with you.Many shipyard workers also fell into bad health due to asbestos.

[Chris C]

I remember my Father referring to a group of workers in the Yard as the White Men, due to lagging the pipes  etc with asbestos.A quick look at the toxicity of this material would show a lot was known and ignored by owners of shipyards throughout the world.

[Creaky]

My father was a boiler maker in the yard and would have come into contact with asbestos and dear knows what else. He contracted throat cancer in 1965 at the age of 38. Thankfully, he was cured of it and it never returned. He believed, even then, that it was his work that caused it.

[Number26]

There are still ex yard workers to this day getting asbestos diagnosis,which is known as the silent killer for how long it remains dormant in the lungs.

[stickleback]

It sounds to me that these posters are honest.

So what's the next step ?

Get a lawyer? How much would that cost?

I think a lot of folks who are skint just don't persue things because they are worried about the cost and they feel intimidated by men in suits.

Informed advice would be good.

[Number26]

From what info I have,the government set aside monies for claims for asbestos related illness and deaths.if you check relevant government websites they could lead you in the right direction,I personally know a lot of yard men that used an English based firm that put them through the x ray process and took on their cases with success.

[Chris C]

Get yourself a lawyer, the road is difficult and needlessly complex, the owners will not part with money unless all the documentation is presented.It is not just a matter of x rays as the use of asbestos in everyday materials, paving stones, brake linings, mean that city dwellers often carry asbestos fibres in their lungs.It is the quantity, the damage done by exposure, the duration of exposure, the boats worked on, the type of work carried out etc etc .A Solicitor will be your first stop, best wishes.

[Number26]

Chris c,I am not trying to underplay how hard it is to prove the issues surrounding asbestos or pleural plaque as some may know it as,simply saying that there is a way forward to people who have suffered from it and know from personal experience that it’s not a simple route to go down.

[Chris C]

Agree with you Number 26, just wanting workers with a history of exposure to take the first step.