Vinyl Chloride
Have you worked in the
plastic industry?
Could you have been exposed
to vinyl chloride?
Have you suffered as a
result of this exposure?
Hugh James' expert team of industrial disease
lawyers are here to help you get the compensation you
deserve.
Read more about:
Vinyl chloride exposure linked to fatal liver tumours
It is now known that some
people who have worked with, and been exposed to, vinyl
chloride have developed angiosarcoma, a rare form of cancer of the
liver. Other workers have developed problems with blood flow
in their hands causing the tips of their fingers to become white
and painful particularly when in cold temperatures. In
extreme cases, the bones in the tips of fingers have broken
down.
Exposure to vinyl chloride had
previously been thought safe at 500 parts per million parts of air.
However, in its 1974 revised safety data sheet, NIOSH (The
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) were
unable to describe a safe level of exposure and the concept of a
threshold limit for vinyl chloride gas in the atmosphere was
rejected. Consequently NIOSH recommended that where an employee was
exposed to any measurable concentration of vinyl
chloride, that employee must wear an air supplied respirator.
What is Vinyl Chloride?
At normal temperatures, vinyl chloride is a
colourless, flammable gas with a mild, sweet odour. It is a
manufactured substance that is used to make polyvinyl chloride or
PVC, which in turn is used to make a variety of plastic
products. Vinyl chloride has been used in polymerisation and
PVC fabrication plants in various parts of the UK including at ICI
and Dow Corning Chemicals.
Vinyl Chloride
exposure compensation
Millions of pounds in compensation
have already been recovered from workers compensation cases brought
in the UK as well as in the US.
There has been much controversy
about the plastic industry’s knowledge of the risks of vinyl
chloride.
Hugh James industrial disease experience
Hugh James have been advising and representing workers in
industrial disease claims such as respiratory disease and Vibration
white finger for over 20 years. We are leaders in our field.
We were involved in the
original test cases for the chest disease and the vibration white
finger claims, resulting in the Government paying out many millions
of pounds in compensation to thousands of sick and injured
miners.