March 15th, 2005

Hundreds of former employees of the Dunlop Semtex factory in Brynmawr, Wales, are pursuing legal action after handling asbestos materials at the plant and going on to develop asbestos related injuries and illnesses. Over a hundred ex-workers from the factory have already been awarded thousands in damages from the company, and many more cases are being assessed and prepared by asbestos lawyers on behalf of the former employees.

Asbestos was widely used in the factory as a fire-resistant property in tiles and carpet underlay. The plant was built in the 1950s, and employed hundreds of people in its day, many of which ended up working closely with asbestos and therefore being exposed to this material and its dangers. In 1982 the factory closed down, and several years ago it was demolished altogether.

However, despite the factory having been demolished, many former employees have been left to deal with a range of asbestos-related problems. Because illnesses related to asbestos can take decades to manifest, some workers are only just realizing that they have been affected by the asbestos with which they worked, and therefore legal action is only just being initiated by many of these former employees.

The compensation paid out so far ranges from several thousand dollars to tens of thousands depending on the extent of the injuries caused by the asbestos exposure. Lawyers will continue to file these cases in order to get compensation for asbestos injuries sustained by the remainder of the former employees that have been affected.