We can help you obtain compensation if your employer is liable where you have contracted Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Do not suffer in silence if you have been exposed to allergens, dust or pollution that has led to a diagnosis of the disease. Contact us today for legal advice on how you can proceed with a claim and obtain damages from an employer whose failure to protect your health and safety has undermined your quality of life.
What exactly is COPD? It is an umbrella term for a range of breathing disorders in which the airways of the lungs become inflamed, giving one a feeling of having obstructed airways and an anxious sensation of being unable to properly breathe. This sensation is deeply unpleasant and is especially frightening for older people. When one goes to take a breath, there is an irritated sensation and sometimes discharge. The condition makes exercise difficult, sleeping troublesome, and periods of work and rest decidedly difficult.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease tends to refer most prominently to two diseases that one can catch at work if the employer has failed to install adequate safeguards and mechanisms to ensure employee’s health. First, COPD refers to chronic bronchitis, a deeply uncomfortable chest condition in which inflammation of the lungs’ airways result in wheezing, struggling for breath, and tiredness. It forces the glands to over-react and produces mucus that causes coughing and spitting.
The second disease refers to emphysema, a condition in which the lung tissue is severely damaged and air pockets develop, stretching the walls of the lung and not allowing these walls to adequately contract when you breathe out. The result is trapped air and the sensation that it is almost impossible to normally breathe. Tiredness and discomfort tend to result.
The causes of such diseases are, along with smoking, exposure to dust and fumes. If you work with metals, wood, oil, coal or other raw materials and are exposed to gases and vapours that may contain particles which contribute to the diseases, you are liable to suffer from them. Scientists and laboratory technicians in private and publicly funded organisations or in research and university premises may also suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Your employer has a legal obligation to protect your health, safety and welfare, and to protect you from exposure to the types of substances that give rise to COPD. If they fail to assess the risks and act upon them appropriately, then you have a right to seek damages for the losses you have incurred: the time off work, and damages for the physical and emotional hardship COPD causes.
If you would like to speak to a specialist solicitor who only deals with personal injury claims you can either use the 24/7 helpline or complete the form or just email us. Compensation is paid in full with no deductions. You do not have to fund or finance your claim. If after talking to us you decide not to take matters further then you are under no obligation to do so and you will not be charged for our advice.
