Lawyers in Northern Ireland as much as anyone are aware of the damage to persons who, at some stage in their working lives, encountered asbestos during their normal day to day work.
The UK Government is potentially facing a huge bill for compensation from former employees of Harland and Wolff shipbuilders in Belfast. Some 3,000 workers employed by the shipyard prior to privatisation in 1989 are suing over alleged exposure to asbestos fibres while working there. The risk, however, does not seem to stop at the employees, with wives and children suffering from asbestos-related illnesses purportedly contracted from handling their husband and father’s work clothes. The bill the Government could potentially face over the next 50 years is estimated to be as high as £190m.
