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Mesothelioma case against The C.E.G.B (Northfleet Power Station) |
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| Mr F received payment for Mesothelioma Compensation of £233,000 |
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| Asbestos was widely used by The Central Electricity Generating Board in the
building and maintenance of Power Stations in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Asbestos was used to lag pipes,
boilers and any components where the heat resistant qualities of asbestos was required. During this period
thousands of laggers, boiler makers and maintenance engineers had significant exposure to asbestos.
Unfortunately this has lead to the development of asbestos related diseases including Mesothelioma. |
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| The following case study is an example of the many claims we have made against
The CEGB over the last decade. |
| Mr F was diagnosed with Mesothelioma in 2009. |
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Exposure to asbestos at The Central Electricity Generating Board |
| Mr F was employed by The Central Electricity Generating Board from 1966
until 1971 as a maintenance fitter at the Northfleet Power Station where he worked on the turbines
and the auxillary plant. |
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| Mr F was exposed to asbestos throughout his employment with Central
Electricity Generating Board in a number of ways. He worked alongside laggers as they mixed up asbestos
fibres and powder with water and then applied the wet asbestos to pipes and valves. Anything that was steam
heated needed to be insulated and asbestos was used everywhere throughout the power station. The valves
that served the vessels were lagged with asbestos as were all of the boilers. |
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| Mr F was often in the vicinity of the laggers when they mixed up the asbestos,
emptying the asbestos powder into troughs or barrels which created clouds of dust in the air. |
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| Then water was added to mix it until it formed a paste. The asbestos paste was
then transferred to buckets and applied it to pipes or valves by hand or whatever tools they could get
their hands on. They then fixed the lagging with chicken wire and then they added another layer of wet
asbestos. This asbestos then dried and hardened. |
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| It was very common to see asbestos laggers all over the power station and
they were employed on a full time basis directly by the CEGB, but Mr F also regularly removed asbestos
lagging from the valves he repaired. |
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Removing asbestos lagging |
| " The heat had made the asbestos brown, dry and crumbling. It was
cracked. I knocked the old lagging off with a hammer or chisel. I then cut through the chicken wire with
a pair of scissors which we called Gilbos which looked like large shears. The old lagging came off in
clumps in my hands and fell to the floor. There was an awful lot of asbestos lagging to remove as the
valves were sometimes enormous. Other fitters would remove lagging as and when was required around me and
at different heights so if they were above me the asbestos would rain down below onto me. I stripped
asbestos lagging from valves about once a week during my employment with CEGB. " |
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| Mr F also removed asbestos lagging from boilers, which were often massive,
measuring 12 feet or more across. He also worked alongside laggers as they cut and fixed pre-formed
sections of asbestos with a hacksaw or a Stanley knive. |
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| There were never had any warnings about the dangers of asbestos. No protective
equipment such as a masks were provided so he was constantly covered in asbestos dust. This was especially
the case when asbestos was stripped from values and also boilers and there was no way of avoiding
breathing in the asbestos dust. One way that he and his co-workers used to get the asbestos dust off the
overalls was by using a compressed air line to blow the dust off each other. This just created clouds of
dust in the air which was breathed in. They also used to shake down their overalls at the end of the day. |
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Have you been diagnosed with mesothelioma after asbestos exposure at The CEGB? |
| If you or a close family member have been recently diagnosed with mesothelioma
and have worked for the The Central Electricity Generating Board we may be able to help. For free advise on
whether you can claim, contact us on 0800 783 9535 and ask for Lynne Manners or Warren Miller. |
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