Hampshire city among south England's asbestos 'death hotspots' with lawyers campaigning for change
Asbestos-associated deaths make the south a hotspot
The south of England has been dubbed an ‘absestos death hotspot’ after workers unknowingly breathed in the harmful minerals, with a Hampshire city being rated the fourth worst area.
Newly released data by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) shows that Portsmouth has the fourth highest rate of mesothelioma asbestos cancer deaths among men in Great Britain, with 482 deaths between 1981 and 2024.
This comes after workers from industries including shipbuilding, construction, and power generation from the 1950s to the 1980s and even later, unknowingly breathed in asbestos fibres, which can cause terminal cancer decades later.
Gosport, also in Hampshire, was ranked tenth with 177 male deaths. Asbestos was heavily used in the past in industries, particularly in shipbuilding, in both Portsmouth and Gosport due to the coastal loocation and strong Royal Navy connection.
But a lawyers has said a “gap in the law” means some do not receive compensation, or receive a severely reduced amount.
Daniel Easton, an expert in industrial disease from the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), said: “Two of the cancers that workers who were exposed to asbestos can develop are mesothelioma and asbestos-related lung cancer, which are so similar that doctors sometimes confuse them when making a diagnosis.
“The Compensation Act allows mesothelioma victims to receive full compensation even if they can only trace one of their former employers, or their insurers, responsible for exposing them to asbestos. But lung cancer victims must still trace all the firms responsible to get full compensation and if they can’t trace them, they lose out. It’s grossly unfair.
“In both cases, the claimant has to prove their illness was caused by asbestos, so there is no doubt about the cause, but sick claimants miss out because they cannot trace all their past employers.”
APIL, in a joint campaign with the Asbestos Victims Support Group Forum (AVSGF) has joined forces with MP Douglas McAllister calling for the law change.
“Records for firms from 40 or 50 years ago have often been lost or destroyed, or companies no longer exist. It’s unjust to expect people with a terminal disease to hunt down records for numerous employers in their dying days, and it can be impossible,” said Daniel.
“July marks 20 years since the Compensation Act was passed. It’s time to make a very simple law change so that victims of lung cancer caused by asbestos at work can receive full compensation, without the need to find all their past employers,” he added.