‘I’ll fight until my last breath to help others’

Next week the States will debate whether to introduce a statutory scheme of compensation for people with mesothelioma following exposure to asbestos.

Grandfather Ian Goodwin, 62, has been given less than a year to live by his doctor, and he has accepted that any financial scheme will probably come too late for him.

‘I’ve just got to get on and do what I can to try to force this issue through for other people coming along, because there will be more victims because mesothelioma occurs decades after the exposure to asbestos, even families are at risk because of exposure to dirty work clothes.

‘I’m fighting for the rights of other people.

‘Right from the very start when I took on this role of fighting the States for a compensation scheme it’s not been about myself, it’s been about the others, because there’s going to be quite a few people on this island that are going to, in the future, be suffering from this disease.’

It is estimated that there are currently 10 people with mesothelioma in Guernsey, but that number is predicted to increase because of the delayed nature of the disease.

Mr Goodwin, who had worked all his life until the aggressive and terminal cancer took hold, said a compensation pay-out would have provided him with a little more financial security in his final years, along with a bit more opportunity to create happy memories for his family.

He is concerned about his wife because she is currently his full-time carer, but when he passes she will be forced to go back to work.

It was when he was working as a storeman at the old Le Riche’s Cash and Carry in the Bouet that Mr Goodwin is convinced he became exposed to asbestos.

Campaigners have said that in the 1980s Guernsey delayed regulating asbestos in the workplace until years after the UK and after there was a growing body of evidence to indicate that it was extremely dangerous.

It is this detail which Mr Goodwin finds particularly upsetting.

‘The States knew way back that this was a dangerous issue, yet did nothing about it whatsoever, they didn’t forewarn companies that this could become a big issue, which it has.’

Mr Goodwin has been disappointed with the reaction from Employment & Social Security, he feels the department has tried to ignore the matter, dragged its feet, and left families high and dry.

The UK introduced a compensation scheme in 2013, and Jersey established its scheme last month.

In both set ups there is help for victims who cannot get a settlement from a liable employer or insurer.

Employment & Social Security indicated it would bring forward proposals for compensation ‘as soon as it can’.

Deputy Matt Fallaize took on the issue, and he has forced the matter into the States Assembly with two amendments to the 2020 Budget, which will be debated next week.

Mr Goodwin is delighted that something is finally happening.

‘I’m very pleased indeed, and Matt’s been a real trooper in this for me, hats off to him, he’s really got stuck into it and he’s not going to let it go.’

Mr Goodwin wanted to thank his family, including his 82 year old mother, who have supported him since he received the diagnosis in 2017.