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Employer who failed to manage asbestos faces £104,000 bill and a criminal record
An employer who failed to manage asbestos properly in his automotive workshop in Kidderminster faces fines and court costs totalling £104,000. He has also received a 12 month suspended prison sentence. Peter Gerard Parkes was found gulty Peter Gerard Parkes of Morville, Bridgnorth was aware that asbestos was present within the premises. He had previously…
Read MoreGovernment rejects the Select Committee’s key recommendation on removing asbestos within 40 years
The Work and Pensions Select Committee has published the government’s response to its report on how the Health and Safety Executive manages asbestos. What the government says in its response In the response, the government rejects the Committee’s key recommendation. The Committee members had called for a strategy to deal with the risks posed by…
Read MoreOur annual report and accounts for 2021-22
You can find our annual report and accounts here on the Charity Commission website. If you prefer to see a quick summary, the two pie charts below show where our income comes from and how we spent it. We are pleased to say that we are using some of our income from last year to…
Read MoreComing to terms with uncertainty
Benjamin Franklin, one of the architects of the America constitution, wrote in a letter to a friend, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” It wasn’t an original idea. He borrowed this joke from the forgotten English playwright Christopher Bullock. But he made it famous. All of us…
Read MoreA personal view of mesothelioma by Rob Harper
It seems many years ago now that I was asked by Doug Jewell, who was then the manager of Asbestos Support Central England (ASCE)), if the Clarion Choir would sing for Action Mesothelioma Day. Clarion have long been prepared to support and raise awareness of issues that affect working people and their families so they…
Read MoreMaking the most of the holidays when you have an asbestos related disease
Christmas is often seen as a special time for renewing contact with family and friends. This is when we create memories that we’ll cherish for months and sometimes years to come. But for people facing health challenges it can be a difficult time. Lisa Hyde-Barrett from the American organisation Mesothelioma Help says, “When your world…
Read MoreCovid-19 Precautions: Why we are still cautious about making home visits
Researchers are only now burrowing down into the statistics to find out how Covid-19 affects different patients. New studies in Spain and the United States of America have added weight to what many people already suspected. Underlying health conditions such as asbestos related diseases do seem to increase the risks from catching Covid-19. How things…
Read More70k in May in Memory of Gary Redfern
In December 2020 my Dad, Gary, was diagnosed with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. We had never heard of thistype of cancer until the day he was diagnosed. It takes many years to develop following the inhalation of asbestos fibres. There is no known cure and the main treatments are to manage pain and hopefully prolong life. …
Read MoreOne of our service users has been waiting more than14 months for his claim to be assessed
In May members of the All Party Parliament Group on Asbestos met Justin Tomlinson, the minister of state for disabled people, with some of his team. The Asbestos Group raised the issue of how Covid-19 affects patients with pleural thickening and asbestosis. Most have been waiting for many months before their claims for benefit and…
Read MoreIf you missed Action Mesothelioma Day it’s never too late to get involved!
Our On-line ActionMeso Day meeting We held an informal meeting where people shared stories about how mesothelioma had affected their lives. Someone mentioned a link to the original World in Action investigation into the activities of Cape Asbestos in their Acre Mill at Hebden Bridge. This was a landmark in getting the damage caused by…
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