Payouts agreed for autoworker lung disease

Payouts agreed for autoworker lung disease

A group of 79 ex-MG Rover workers have received compensation after what experts believe was the largest outbreak of occupational lung disease in the world. Metalworking fluids used by Powertrain Ltd, the engine building division of MG Rover, caused breathing problems for the Unite members at the Longbridge plant in Birmingham. After years of complaints by Unite, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in 2004 reported about 12 per cent of staff had been affected by work-related asthma or extrinsic allergic alveolitis (EAA). In 2006, HSE revealed mist from metalworking machines had caused the disease outbreak, which had led to 101 workers being affected. HSE said the metalworking fluids had not been controlled effectively, allowing the build-up and continued growth of bacteria and other potentially harmful substances. A Unite statement on the out-of-court payments said: 'All claims have now been settled, the total damages paid by the defendant is a little under £1 million, individual settlements ranging from £500 to £180,000 for the claimants.' Unite's John Walsh said: 'I am delighted that after a seven-year legal battle our members have now received compensation that has been owed to them since they suffered ill-health back in 2003/04; it is a pity that it has taken this long.' In 2007, HSE said 87 workers had been struck down with occupational asthma and 24 with EAA, with the worst affected hit by both diseases. The government subsequently agreed to amend legislation, allowing the EAA sufferers to claim industrial disease disability benefits which would otherwise have been available only to the occupational asthma sufferers. Expert evidence obtained as part of separate union-backed civil compensation cases established that Powertrain did not have any adequate risk assessments in place to address harmful substances, that the management of metalworking fluids was inadequate and that significant bacteria was allowed to build up and be released to the factory atmosphere. HSE was criticised in 2006 for failing to take a prosecution related to the case (Risks 255).

Thompsons Solicitors news release. Birmingham Post. BBC News Online.

Hazards magazine on HSE's failure to prosecute.