Dock Workers Subject to Years of Asbestos Exposure

August 22, 2006 - A group of 80 dock workers who were employed at England’s busy Hull docks are all suing for asbestos exposure.  According to accounts in several British Newspapers, including the Yorkshire Post, the actions follow a High Court ruling earlier this year which found that workers employed under the government-run National Dock Labor Board scheme were owed a duty of care by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).  Where no employer can be found, a claim may be made against the DTI.

Mick Toomey, age 70, described to the Post the rigors of working at the Hull docks, where he was employed from age 15 until he was nearly 50 years old. 

"Every morning we would go into a building and they would lock the doors behind us. The employer's foreman would come in and stand above you giving jobs out.  You had to fight for a good job, pushing each other out of the way. It was survival of the fittest,” he explained.

"But for the dirty, poorly-paid jobs no one wanted, they would send the port labor officer out and once he had touched you, you had to go or you were suspended and would have no money for your family," Toomey added.

He noted that the men who worked the docks handled all sorts of toxic material but that asbestos stood out in his mind.  Often, Toomey remembers, bags of asbestos would be handled by forklift, splitting while being transported and raining white dust onto all the workers.  They wore no masks, gloves, or any other kind of protective gear.

Toomey and most of the other 79 men currently suffer from mesothelioma and their lives have changed drastically, they say.  The once healthy men are unable to carry on with normal everyday tasks. 

"I need oxygen nearly 24 hours a day now," Toomey said. "If I don't take it, my lips turn blue and my fingers turn blue. I'm pretty much housebound."

"The facts are Mr. Toomey was exposed to asbestos and he was a dock worker,” says attorney Dianna Bamforth. “We must now establish if he is suffering from an illness contracted through exposure to asbestos on the docks.”

"These people were in a situation where they were almost forced to work. If they complained they lost their job. They were putting their lives at risk every single day and they deserve compensation."