Around 300 former coke workers have lodged claims for compensation for the cancers and respiratory diseases contracted they believe because of decades of exposure to harmful dust and fumes.
Law firms Hugh James and Irwin Mitchell have confirmed they have jointly issued a letter of claim against British Coal and British Steel on behalf of workers who became seriously and sometimes terminally ill after working at coking and steel plants across the country.
The move follows last year’s landmark High Court ruling that bosses at the National Smokeless Fuels (Phurnacite) plant near Aberdare had not properly assessed the workplace risks to workers or taken all practicable measures to protect them from inhalation of dust and fumes from the 1940s to the 1980s.
That has paved the way for legal action by workers employed in similar plants in the Valleys and the north east of England. Many have since died of their ailments but lawyers have invited the defendants to waive strict claim deadlines so claimants can get the justice.
One is Caerphilly’s Martyn Bowden, 58, who joined British Coal’s Nantgarw Coke Works aged 16 and worked there for another 15 years suffering chest problems ever since. In 2007, he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.
Mr Bowden spent a lot of time coughing his way through very unpleasant shifts on the very hot, dirty and smoky oven tops and said today: “Before Racal (respirator) helmets were introduced none of the workers had any protection from the fumes, not even paper dust masks.
“The lung cancer has a very negative impact on my daily life and I get breathless when I walk up the stairs or try to walk any distance. It upsets me as I cannot play games with my grandson as I get too breathless.”
Kathryn Singh, of Hugh James, said: “Sadly this is yet another instance where workers are left paying the price of their employers not protecting their health and safety decades ago.
“We now hope that the defendants will work with us to resolve our clients’ cases quickly and amicably.”
Roger Maddocks, a specialist workplace illness lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, added: “Hundreds of former coke oven workers are now suffering from terrible conditions simply because of the work they carried out on a day-to-day basis.
“Employees have a basic right to be able to go to work and return home safely at the end of the day.”
I too worked at Nantgarw coke works, between 1977 and 1986. As Martyn Bowden mentions Racal Airstream helmets were introduced during this time which were some protection for regular oven top workers.
Those workers who worked only part of their time on the oven tops, maintenance and management for instance, usually continued to be exposed without protection.
Conditions were even worse at the Phurnacite plant in the Cynon valley where I also worked. Again most workers did not have Racal Helmets, I used a disposable dust mask kept ready for use inside my hard hat. This was commonly the only protection.
I hope all the men suffering from diseases contracted from their time in the industry manage to achieve compensation; they deserve it. If the country can afford to bail out bank workers it can certainly afford the money to help make these men a little more comfortable in their final years.