Chronology
1898 H M Factory Inspectorate report.
"The evils of asbestos dust have also attracted my attention, a microscopic examination of this material which was made by HM Medical Inspector clearly revealed the sharp, glass-like jagged nature of the particles and where they are allowed to rise and to remain suspended in the air of a room, in any [emphasis added] quantity, the effects have been found to be injurious as might have been expected".
1901 Factory and Workshop Act
Photo: Asbestos workers strip an asbestos carding machine at British Belting & Asbestos, circa 1920s.
1924 First US workers compensation disability finding for asbestos is upheld by the Massachusetts Industrial Accidents Board.
1924. Nellie Kershaw inquest and claim (Turner & Newall. UK). Also ex-gratia payment to William Hoyle. "Other ex-gratia payments were made to cover solicitor's costs or other expenses. Lump sum ex-gratias at death were relatively rare...". For further detail as to early compensation claims pre 1970s and Turner and Newall see Magic Mineral to Killer Dust. Geoffrey Tweedale 2000 pages 164-174).
1929 US lawsuits filed for Anna Pirskowski v Johns-Manville Inc. and ten other claims in Newark Federal Court, USA.
1930 HM Factory Inspector "Merewether" report. The UK Court date fixing industry with the "date of knowledge" and "ought to have known" about the hazards of asbestos.
1930 Workman's Compensation (Silicosis and Asbestosis) Act 1930
1931 Asbestos Regulations
1934 Dr Donald Hunter [regarded as the founding father of occupational and industrial disease medicine] reported as describing the Dolbey spraying asbestos process as "murderous". Source: "The doctors and the dockers". Dr M Greenberg. 2004. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15164401
1937 Factories Act
Photo from internet.
Worker spreading asbestos on the boiler of a locomotive (1942).
1937/1942 Asbestosis/ex-gratia payments by Turner & Newall to Edward Butterworth, Mark Rush and John Thompson or surviving family members. (source: "Magic Mineral to Killer Dust". G Tweedale 2000)
1945 The Chief Inspector of Factories letter "Asbestos insulation aboard ships".
1948 Building (Safety Health and Welfare) Regulations
1949 Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Factories
"...it is very necessary to keep an ever watchful eye for the new use of asbestos in some manufacturing or other process, for example, on ships or buildings where work may be undertaken by someone not fully realizing the necessity of preventing as far as possible the inhalation of asbestos fibre and dust".
1953 Richard Doll et al "Mortality from lung cancer" BJIM
1958 Frederick Legrand v Johns-Manville Inc [US]
1960 Wagner et al "Diffuse pleural mesothelioma and asbestos exposure in the North Western Cape Province" BJIM
1960 Booklet No. 8 "Toxic Substances in Factory Atmospheres"
1960 HMFI report "It was doubtful whether it was safe to assume that any finely divided dust was harmless if inhaled in sufficient quantity over a sufficient period".
1960/1961 The Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Regulations
"Ship building and ship repair". J F Woolaston http://occmed.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/42/4/203
1961 Factories Act
1965 Newhouse and Thompson "Mesothelioma of the pleura and peritoneum following exposure to asbestos in the London area" BJIM. As reported in Sunday Times "Scientists track down killer dust"
1966 Construction (Working Places) Regulations 1966
1967/1968 early UK asbestos court claims Sales v Dicks Asbestos and Insulating Co. Ltd. unreported and Skingsley v Cape Asbestos Co Limited
1969 Employers' Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse40.pdf
1969 First US "environmental" claim - "Fetchco".
1969 Asbestos Regulations
1971 Early UK asbestos court cases. Smith/Dodd & Others v Central Asbestos Co. Limited. Court of Appeal. http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?DocID=JUD%2F*1972*2AllER1135%2F00003
"...In the present case the Defendants [Central Asbestos] were, I am sorry to say, guilty of grave breaches of the regulations. Time after time, from 1953 onwards, the factory inspectors complained and wrote letters to the defendants: but nothing much was done. The conditions were lethal...In 1962 the defendants closed down one plant and made modifications to others. This improved matters. But still the defendants broke the regulations. So much so that in April 1964 , they were summoned before the magistrates. They pleaded guilty and were fined the sums of £75, £75 and £20. Things improved for a bit, but in 1967 the factory inspector was still complaining of breaches. The defendants have since closed down and gone out of business. About time too.…". Extract: judgment 1971 (April) Smith & Others v Central Asbestos Co. Limited. Court of Appeal. Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning. page 211.
1973. US Appeal Court upholds mesothelioma trial verdict for Clarence Borel v Fibreboard Paper Products Corp.
1974 The Health & Safety at Work Act
1979 Health & Safety Commission "Asbestos Vol.1: final report of the advisory committee". HMSO
1979 The Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers Compensation Act).
www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/uksi_20080650_en_1 -
1982 "Alice. A Fight for Life". TV documentary.
http://www.lkaz.demon.co.uk/ban67.htm#n2
1985 UK ban introduced for blue and brown asbestos
1988 (COSHH) Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1987/Uksi_19872115_en_2.htm
1995 First UK environmental mesothelioma claims. Hancock et al v Roberts et al.
1995 Professor R Peto describes an "asbestos epidemic" http://www.lkaz.demon.co.uk/ban19.htm
1999 House of Commons Library. "Asbestos". Research Paper 99/815. www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp99/rp99-081.pdf
1999 UK ban for white asbestos
2001 Jeromson v Shell Tankers UK and Cherry Tree Machine Co. Ltd judgment.
"...in 1951, the difficulties related to and the threats posed by asbestos were sufficiently well-known, and sufficiently uncertain in their extent and effect, for employers to be under a duty to reduce exposure to the greatest extent possible...'
http://www.clearanswers.co.uk/what-we-do/shell-tankers-uk-ltd-vs-betty-irene-jeromson.htm
2002 Fairchild judgment [House of Lords]
www.parliament.the-stationery-office.com/pa/ld200102/ldjudgmt/jd020620/fchild-3.htm
2002 High Court "Mesothelioma Fast Track" claims procedure and practice note.
2006 Control of Asbestos Regulations.
2006 Compensation Act
www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2006/en/ukpgaen_20060029_en_1
2008 Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) Regulations 2008
www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2008/draft/ukdsi_9780110818603_en_1
2010 Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers Compensation (Payment of Claims) (Amendment) Regulations 2010.
Mesothelioma Lump Sum Payments (Conditions and Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2010. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/draft/ukdsi_9780111491799_en_1
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/draft/ukdsi_9780111491805_en_1
Video film : "The Asbestos Story" made by the US law firm Brent Coon. http://www.historyofasbestoslive.com/site/video
