Boyes Turner’s asbestos-related disease lawyers have secured a settlement for a former scaffolder with asbestos-related pleural thickening and persistent asbestos-related pleural effusion.Our client, Mr P, was exposed to asbestos during his employment with Holst & Company Limited between early 1957 and 1961, initially as a general labourer for a couple of weeks and then as a scaffolder.ExposureMr P worked at Aberthaw Power Station in a gang of four scaffolders. They erected scaffolding to enable laggers to lag pipework in the power station. The laggers would lag a section of pipework while the scaffolding was erected around the next section of pipework. Mr P worked in close proximity to the laggers all of the time. The laggers used to take a large sack of dry asbestos powder and pour it into a drum of water, which created a large plume of asbestos dust in the air. Mixing the powder and water caused further asbestos dust in the air, which Mr P inhaled. The scaffolding and boards always had asbestos powder on them and Mr P shook this dust off the boards. Mr P and his fellow scaffolders also took down the scaffolding. Labourers used brushes and shovels to sweep the area, tipping the debris into wheelbarrows. Mr P helped the labourers sweep up the dust and was further exposed to asbestos in this way.Mr P also worked at Llanbradach Colliery for about three weeks in the engine house. He and other tradesmen removed asbestos lagging from existing pipework using their hands and a chisel. Mr P was showered with old asbestos dust from his own work and from the work of others. Mr P was not warned of the dangers of exposure to asbestos, nor provided with a mask. He took home asbestos dust on his clothes.The claimMr P instructed Boyes Turner to investigate a claim for compensation. We investigated his claim and contacted his former employers’ insurers to initiate the claim. We obtained expert medical evidence which established that Mr P had a 40% respiratory disability, attributable entirely to his asbestos-related disease. His disability was likely to progress to 50%. The defendant’s expert medical evidence was less favourable to our client.We issued court proceedings and the claim progressed towards trial at which the judge would have to decide which medical evidence was to be preferred. The judge’s ruling on the medical evidence would determine the value of Mr P’s claim.SettlementDuring settlement negotiations in the lead up to trial we were able to secure a satisfactory settlement, on a full and final rather than the provisional basis, in accordance with our client’s wishes to be compensated for all foreseeable future risks of deterioration arising from his asbestos-related disease now.Mr P is very happy with his settlement. We are pleased that we could bring his claim to a successful conclusion.For further information about claims for asbestos-related pleural thickening or asbestos-related pleural effusion, please contact the mesothelioma and asbestos claims team by email idclaims@boyesturner.com.