Unhealthy outlook for industry?

Industrial diseases are in the news on two counts at the moment. A coroner in Wolverhampton has delivered a landmark judgement that a former Goodyear worker died of the respiratory disease mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos.
And the Health and Safety Executive is describing what it calls "the biggest occupational asthma outbreak in the world" at Longbridge in 2004.
For workers who may be suffering what they believe to be an industrial disease, or who may be worried that their working environment could be affecting their health in the short or long term there are places to go on the web for help.
Unfortunately - or fortunately depending on your point of view - making a search on a phrase like "industrial disease" will land you slap in the middle of a very crowded beauty contest where firms of solicitors will, through their websites, offer what they consider to be the best deals and advice on compensation claims.
If this is what's meant by "compensation culture" it is all too evident, swamping what might be thought as more independent counsel.
But if information is your first priority, the first places to go should be where there's no cheque expected at either end of the deal.
Probably the first port of call should be the Health and Safety Executive's site at www.hse.gov.uk
As it says on the tin, health and safety at work is the organisation's oxygen.
The site includes a comprehensive search facility on all manner of issues.
The section on asbestos at www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/index.htm is typically thorough.
The front page links to even deeper information, including a look at all the relevant legislation, including new combined regulations due to be launched in October of this year.
Following the link www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/furtherreadjun.pdf brings up a three-page pdf document listing all the relevant documents and where to get them.
There is information on Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations 1983 as amended in 1998 and on Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 which is not just about workers' rights, but employers' responsibilities and help for all on either side of the fence.
Elsewhere, the Department for Work and Pensions at www.dwp.gov.uk offers practical help if a claim is required.
Under its Advisors and Claim Forms sections it actually includes a form to claim for benefit for a prescribed industrial disease.
You can read through the claim form online using Adobe Reader or download and print it.
There's also more advice from Department for Constitutional Affairs, which has a section on personal injury claims at www.dca.gov.uk/pubs/injuryclaims.htm
And if a potential claim really is the first thing on your mind, there is virtually no limit to the online offerings.
One piece of advice may be to look for the logo of the Claims Standards Council a www.claimscouncil.org , which says it is a "a non-profit making company limited by guarantee and is governed by a Board of Trustees. It was formed to represent organisations and individuals interested in the development of regulation in the UK."
Last word, though, should probably come from the HSE site, which leads its asbestos section with this quote from Bill Callaghan, chairman of the Health and Safety Council:
"Tackling the problem of asbestos is a huge undertaking, but the HSC regards it as one of its highest priorities. Asbestos killed 50,000 people in the 30 years to 1998, and the toll will continue to rise because illnesses resulting from work with the material can take up to 60 years to manifest themselves."
As the events at the coroners court this week have so clearly demonstrated.