Health & Safety Update (March 2010)

Accessing Compensation - Proposals to Help those Made Ill by Work

Thousands of people with serious industrial diseases who cannot trace their employers' insurance records should be able to claim compensation thanks to recent Government proposals.

Where a person is injured or made ill through their work, as a result of the employer's negligence, they would normally claim civil damages from the employer. However, a number of people have been unable to trace their employers' liability insurance policy and make a claim.  This is because some industrial diseases only appear decades later when employers may have ceased trading or they may have not kept old insurance records or lost them.

Plans have been set out to create an Employers Liability Tracing Office to help people track down their employers' liability insurance policies, and an Employers' Liability Insurance Bureau to provide a fund of last resort for those who are unable to trace them.

The proposed tracing office will incorporate an electronic database of employers' liability insurance policies, which should make it easier to track down these records and improve the existing tracing service.

The consultation will consider:

• how the tracing office could be best managed and funded
• the scope of help that could be provided by an employers liability insurance bureau, the timing of claims and how much compensation could be paid
• what more employers can do to meet their obligations to maintain employers' liability compulsory insurance.

A voluntary Code of Practice for tracing Employers' Liability insurance policies, set up in 1999 has led to some improvements, but many individuals are still left without help.