The family of Mrs Linda Shires, who sadly passed away aged 76 last year after being diagnosed with mesothelioma – an incurable cancer caused by asbestos exposure – is appealing for help from anyone who worked with her.
[Photo of Mrs Linda Shires]
Our specialist asbestos solicitors have been instructed by Mrs Shires’ family to investigate how she was exposed to asbestos following her employment at the Electrolux factory in Luton.
Mrs Shires worked at the Electrolux factory assembling vacuum cleaners on the production line between 1987 and 1997. She recalled working in an ageing factory beneath overhead insulated pipework where maintenance work was regularly carried out whilst production continued.
She remembered dust frequently falling from overhead pipework and machinery onto employees working below and was never warned about the dangers of asbestos or provided with any respiratory protection.
The family are particularly keen to hear from anyone who worked at Electrolux during this period and can recall the condition of the factory buildings, overhead pipework, maintenance work, or the general working environment.
As part of those investigations, we are seeking information from former colleagues and anyone else who may have knowledge of asbestos-containing materials, building works or maintenance carried out at the factories where Mrs Shires worked. Before her death, Mrs Shires believed she may have been exposed to asbestos in several different ways during her lifetime including exposure through her late husband, Mr John Shires’ work.
[Photo of John and Linda Shires]
Mr Shires worked at the Vauxhall Motors factory in Luton during the early 1970s. The family would welcome hearing from anyone who worked alongside John or remembers the conditions within the factory, particularly the presence of asbestos lagging, insulation, repair work or dusty conditions on the production lines.
In addition, the family are seeking information about Linda’s late father, William Edwin Devenport, who worked as a labourer at HM Portsmouth Dockyard. He assisted laggers removing and replacing asbestos insulation aboard Royal Navy ships during refit work and is believed to have returned home wearing work clothes contaminated with asbestos dust.
Linda therefore could have been exposed to asbestos as a child through secondary exposure from her father’s work clothes in the 1950s and 60s. The family would be grateful to hear from anyone who worked at Portsmouth Dockyard and can recall the conditions in which this work was undertaken.
Phoebe Osborne, Legal Director in the asbestos team, said:
“Linda was a hard-working woman who spent many years simply getting on with her job and providing for her family. Like so many people of her generation, she went to work expecting that her employer would provide a safe environment, never imagining that the dust around her could have such devastating consequences many years later.
Linda’s family deserve answers about how she came to be exposed to asbestos. We would urge anyone who remembers working at Electrolux in Luton, or who has any knowledge of the working conditions there during the late 1980s and 1990s, to please come forward. However small or insignificant a memory may seem, it could make a real difference to Linda’s family.”
