A Plymouth lawyer has launched an investigation into whether there was asbestos in Royal Navy warships based at Devonport and Rosyth in the 1970s and whether this could have led to deaths.
James Walsh, a partner at Plymouth’s GA Solicitors and a specialist in industrial disease claims, is probing whether asbestos was used in the frigate HMS Gurkha and the carrier HMS Ark Royal.
He is working for the family and estate of a Plymouth woman who died after suffering from mesothelioma, an incurable form of cancer often linked to asbestos exposure.
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It is believed the woman, who did not work at either dockyard, may have suffered from secondary exposure. During the 1970s her husband at the time was in the Royal Navy and was based at both Devonport and Rosyth, in Scotland, serving on HMS Gurkha and HMS Ark Royal.
Asbestos has insulation and fire-retardant properties but wasn’t banned in the 海角视频 until 1986, by which time it was revealed as a cause of a range of illnesses, with many people exposed during the 1950s to 1980s, often from working in publicly owned buildings such as schools and dockyards.
Mr Walsh, who has handled hundreds of asbestos-related illness claims during a near 30-year career, is investigating whether the substance would have been found on those two ships.
He wants to hear from anyone who served on either vessel or worked in either dockyard between 1973 and 1976, specifically if they were on HMS Gurkha at any time between January 1973 and October 1974 or HMS Ark Royal between February 1975 and October 1976.
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Mr Walsh is also studying academic reports such as those by PG Harries, author of the 1970 University of London paper about “the effects and control of diseases associated with exposure to asbestos in a Naval Dockyard”.
“I am asking if there is anyone out there who worked on HMS Gurkha or HMS Ark Royal during that period (1973 to 1976) who could say if there was asbestos on the ships at that time,” he said.
Mr Walsh, who may also engage an engineer to make further inquiries into use of asbestos on warships, said: “Mesothelioma, essentially cancer, is caused 99% by exposure to asbestos. I have handled hundreds of cases. I have been dealing with cases for more than 25 years.”
Mr Walsh, , said he has worked on cases where people had been suffering from the effects of asbestos from an exposure that occurred at any time until the end of the 1980s. After this date privatisation of dockyards brought an improvement of standards and cases of infection became rare.
“It’s a nasty disease,” said Mr Walsh. “Not just for people working with asbestos but for people exposed on a secondary basis. Raising awareness of this is still a problem. It is still a big problem in Plymouth, it has not gone away and will continue to be an issue, particularly secondary exposure.”