Will my children and I suffer and die from an asbestos related disease??

custnomore

I made my first ever claim (in 18yrs) on my house/contents insurance. My home/contents insurer Norwich Union (via their property mangmnt co ASPREA) sent various workmen from different firms to cut off and replaster part of two wall in my house. The first man used a kanga to dry drill of the plaster. He stold me he didn't normally do this type of work and that he was a roofer. He did this with my children and I present in the (living) room. There was so much noise/dust, my 14 yr old went upstairs. My 11 yr old stayed downstairs with me. The workman hoovered up and left. No safety equipment/procedures were used or seen. He didn't tell me (because he was untrained and unaware) that he had cut away a 6/3ft hole into ASBESTOS artex.

The next man came round (the director of this company informs me they are not licenced to work with asbestos) and placed a huge fan inches away from this exposed asbestos and also a dehumidifier which extracts any moisture from the air. The fan blew at the asbestos for 336.8 hours and over a period of months. The fan blew with such force that my children and I regularly had to hoover up bits of the exposed asbestos during this period. We of course used the same hoover to hoover my children's bedrooms and everywhere in the house.

On Monday 6th April the next workman came into our home and took one look at the wall and said oinfront of my children and I "Who did this?" I told him. He said "i'm not touching that. That's asbestos!" He made a phone call to his office and he told me he had been ordered offsite. He and immediately our home. No precautions, no action. Just left us there. The law states and HSE have strict guidelines on what course of action should be adhered to when dealing with asbestos. None were taken. I had to inform the HSE. NU didn't act inaccordance with legislation again.

I managed to get in a licensed Asbestos Removal firm to take 5 samples that very day: 4/5 came back with asbestos content. NU (reluctently) agreed this firm could remove and make safe the walls.

Numerous anxious phone calls have been placed to NU, to date they have not written one word in any kind of response to this still ongoing situation. NU have ignored independent expert advice from 2 sources with regard to safest possible measures in our home. NU have ignored my GP's advice regarding Health Screening for my children and I.

My children watched in horror the licensed workmen section off and seal air tight part of their living room. Men in white suits and black masks covering their face removing the plaster in marked, sealed bags. I was heartbroken when I knew they realised the seriousness of the situation.

Children will ask direct questions they're smart like that: Will I die from this, will you mum, will the dog. Why did they take the hoover and carpet (which will be put down a forty foot hole in a specially designed asbestos waste site) but left the rug and other carpets? When we walk downstairs again, wont it be contaminated again? My 11 yr old didn't feel safe enough to sleep in his bed after that.

319 hours since they took away our piece of mind. You know, those times when you look at your child and smile from your heart outwards and you feel that safe and secure feeling you take for granted that they are OK, that they healthy and fine and have their whole lives ahead of them, that in the natural order of the world, they will grow and be strong and have families and be successful etc... As parents, we think all this at a non-verbal, instinctive but continuous invisible flow and with the arrogance that it is our right to think and feel those thoughts

Breach of contract, gross negligence and unlawful actions... and you are so arrogant you didn't even acknowledge how you irrevicably changed the our lives forever.

Can we have my guarantee now Norwich Union that we will not suffer and/or contract any form of asbestos related disease in our lifetime?

People, please out The Daily Mirror's Asbestos Timebomb Campaign... and if miracles do exist, then any kind hearted legal eagles please help us.

RedBern

whilst not seeking to minimise your distress I recall a HSE expert visiting my workplace a few years ago - all the cupboards in a corridor were sealed up with tape along the edges so they couldn't be used.

He asked why this was, and was told that the building had small patches of asbestos in parts of it and so these needed to be sealed off for safety reasons. He smiled and said he'd rather spend all day working in a building with asbestos than an evening working behind a bar in a (smoky) pub................make of that what you will.

tiff

I think he was talking rubbish redbern. My Step Dad has mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos during his working life as a roof tiler. The doctors have said this disease will reach its peak over the coming years. It only takes one particle of asbestos to be lodged in the lung to get this disease which is terminal.

Sorry, custnomore, I have no idea of the way forward but would imagine you have the basis of a claim there. I have to say though, I'm not sure my 11 year old would have the slightest clue what asbestos was, never mind the harm it can do.

sandiep

There are two types of asbestos, and one is relatively harmless, and I believe that this is the type that was used in houses etc.

Find out what type of asbestos you are dealing with here.

RedBern

I think he was talking rubbish redbern. My Step Dad has mesothelioma due to exposure to asbestos during his working life as a roof tiler.

fair enough Tiff - (sorry about your step-dad) - but I think the point was that we are exposed to serious hazards each day. There's a difference between living with something for a short space of time and - in your Step-dad's case, being exposed daily over a longer period. The HSE guy is a champion of smoke free workplaces (before the legislation came in) and found it somewhat strange that 'deadly' asbestos could be made safe via duct tape!

fwor

Just addressing the "peace of mind" aspect, and not the possibility of a claim for compensation, the risk of anyone in the family suffering from mesothelioma later in life as a result is probably very low.

Artex was only ever reinforced with the least dangerous type of asbestos, and the Artex itself is relatively soft and so should release relatively small amounts of fibre if chiselled off a wall or ceiling. It's likely that almost all of the dust flying about would have been plaster dust.

There is no doubt at all that asbestos can be harmful, but there is also probably a strong element of hyping by the companies that specialise in clearing it - because it's in their financial interests to scare people at every opportunity.

custnomore

Thank you:Redbern, tiff and sandiep for your comments. I know the asbestos is a low % but asbestos becomes dangerous when airbourne, hence my concern about the fan blowing it about in unnaturally dry conditions and in an enclosed area. I was told by an expert that fibres can settle quite quickly, but when disturbed and if inhaled, then you are at risk. So I'm frightened to sweep, and I can't hoover anymore: they took it away! My living rooom now consists of concrete floor and floorboards - not nice.



Tiff, my thoughts are with you for your stepdad, and you're right, i've also read that it takes one fibre/spore to enter your lung to put you at risk. And as for my 11 year old's knowledge, I will always do my best to answer any Qs he has, but I do answer as positively as I can. There is world of difference between: no risk and risk (no matter how small) and younger children tend to reason in black and white, with very little grey area.

In my recent research, alot from the Daily Mirror Asbestos campaign and it's links. I have read that more people in the UK than the USA die from Asbestos Related Diease (ARD), but more people sue in the US (not a surprise).
Two thirds of cases involving women are unexplained but often it is through washing the clothes of asbestos workers.
Rates in women have shot up three-fold in the past 25 years.
Sophie Ellis has been fighting a killer cancer that is linked to asbestos. She was only 13 when she was diagnosed with mesothelioma. She had eight months of chemotherapy to try and shrink the tumour before surgeons decided to remove the whole lung. She was just 14 at the time.
Research shows children are particularly at risk because of their physiological state of growing cells will accelerate the symptoms.
The paper put before the Law Lords to amend the enforced licencsing for all Asbestos Removal - was financed by the Assiciation of British Insurers: including NORWICH UNION! Food for thought.

fwor

I happened to be discussing this topic last night with a friend who works in a lab that tests for asbestos contamination, among other things.

By coincidence, a stranger on an adjacent route (we were at a climbing wall) overheard, and it became apparent that he had been a building site inspector for many years and that one of his areas of expertise was asbestos.

He agreed that asbestos-based materials are still a major health hazard in older buildings, but that Artex was not one of the significant ones. He explained that Artex and similar coatings were exempted years ago from requiring a licence for removal. This decision was made based on tests that showed that they represent an extremely low risk to people working on them and to occupants of buildings where they are being removed.

Hence any suggestion that the original builder or NU was not acting in accordance with asbestos legislation is incorrect.

And any suggestion that "it only takes one particle of asbestos to kill you" is, quite frankly, scaremongering. Everyone is subject to a background level of microscopic fibres, including the various types of asbestos, because they blow around on the wind for miles. In practical terms there is nothing you can do to avoid inhaling them.

His advice (welcome or not) was simple: Don't worry about it any further.

bookworm1363

I don't know if this will help or not, but on CAG (see my sig), we have had a resident NU rep for a while now and people with worries about NU can post on there and ask her to look into it. It is official, btw, not just an employee helping on the side.

Maybe worth posting to her and ask her to look into your claim for you?