Guernsey Press

Compensation scheme is welcome but needs to go further

I WAS very happy to see that Deputy Matt Fallaize brought forward a proposition to help with support for those people who are affected by mesothelioma, a form of cancer. It is of course not the only form of asbestos-related cancer and as such I believe the help should be spread further; our government has not appeared to move on this subject, the same as it did not move very quickly when made aware of the dangerous substance asbestos years ago.

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It is quite possible that more than £100k a year will be required, but when you see some of the follies created by our government and the general wasting of our assets, it does make you sad when this type of support gets shelved, or diluted to an extent it no longer helps those who need it.

My colleague of over 40 years died a terrible death caused by his exposure to asbestos products in the ’70s and ’80s. He was just 60 years old when he died; being 10 years older than him, I felt he was cheated of the extra 10 years that I had on him. There are quite a number of Guernsey folk who have already died of this and other related asbestos diseases; I am rather surprised that over the years our deputies, and of course our own civilian government, have not brought forward some help before Deputy Fallaize tried to achieve what should have been done many years ago. It is not all about making another form of benefit or a compensation scheme available that will help those who suffer from the effects of this dangerous product. Help could be provided by our government to collect what is due from the past employers or their insurance companies. Any recovery could take years, time which the affected individuals do not have, or are mentally capable of dealing with in this stressful period, but any recovery could be placed into a fund to help others.

Approximately four years ago the Guernsey Building Trades Employers’ Association took up an initiative to create a more straightforward awareness plan to help the construction industry as a whole. It proposed to make this awareness by introducing a condition on the Building Control licence for an asbestos survey to be carried out by an approved body prior to any demolition/development taking place. This also included a notification that this survey had been undertaken. It meant that every client and professional had to take this undertaking seriously or quite large penalties were imposed on those who flouted this condition. Basically, it meant that the people involved in the demolition or construction works are made aware, before placing their workmen on site, of the survey results and could then make an informed decision if they then required specialist help to remove the danger. Although legislation regarding the health and safety concerning asbestos is drafted into law, it was not clearly reflected into the industries where the asbestos products were commonly used, and thus it took some common sense approach to make the information available in a format that could not be ignored by the people who were planning their construction/building alterations. This was all achieved by the GBTEA and chief Building Control officer at the time in a period of approximately one month – so issues can be sorted quickly to every person’s gain.

So, deputies and government, let’s see just how progressive you can all be in supporting this issue being brought to the States Chamber for your attention, also your ideas on how this can be brought forward rather than why it cannot.

JOHANN ETASSE

Pyramid Construction.