Industrial disease is injury in slow motion — cancer, lung disease, deafness and skin conditions caused by work, often surfacing years or decades after the exposure. Connaught Law's industrial disease solicitors act for workers and families across the UK, including where the employer responsible has long since closed down.
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How We Can Help
Occupational Cancer
Work-related cancer claims arise from exposure to carcinogens the law required employers to control — asbestos, silica dust, diesel fumes, industrial chemicals and radiation. We build the exposure history employer by employer, instruct occupational medicine and oncology experts on causation, and pursue the claim with the urgency these diagnoses demand, including expedited handling where prognosis requires it.
Asbestos & Mesothelioma
Mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening still surface decades after exposure in construction, shipbuilding, engineering and public buildings. Mesothelioma claims benefit from fast-track court procedures and dedicated compensation schemes where no insurer can be traced — we handle both, and act for families where the diagnosis has already been lost.
COPD & Respiratory Disease
If dust and fume exposure at work caused or worsened COPD, occupational asthma, silicosis or other lung disease, you can claim against the employer who failed to control it — including where smoking or other causes contributed, with the award apportioned to reflect the work-related share. Proper respiratory protection and ventilation have been legal duties for decades; the medical and engineering evidence usually shows whether they were honoured.
Industrial Hearing Loss & Tinnitus
Years of workplace noise — factories, construction, engineering — cause noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus that hearing protection should have prevented. Audiogram evidence usually distinguishes noise damage from age-related loss. Our guides on hearing loss compensation and tinnitus claims cover these cases in detail.
Dermatitis & Vibration Injuries
Industrial dermatitis from chemicals, cleaning agents, cement and wet work — and hand-arm vibration syndrome from years of power tools — are among the most common industrial diseases, and among the most preventable. Employers must assess these risks, provide protection and act on early symptoms; when they don't, the resulting claims are well established and we run them regularly.
Employers No Longer Trading
With diseases that take decades to develop, the employer responsible has often been dissolved by the time of diagnosis. The claim doesn't die with the company: we trace the employer's liability insurers through the Employers' Liability Tracing Office and pursue the historic policy — and where no insurer can be found, statutory schemes may still compensate.
How We Work
Industrial disease claims are reconstructed, not just proved: we build your work and exposure history, obtain HSE standards and the duties that applied at the time — noise, dust and hazardous substance regulations — and instruct occupational medicine experts on causation and apportionment where several employers or causes contributed.
Time runs from knowledge, not exposure: under the Limitation Act 1980 you generally have three years from when you first connected your condition to your work — which may be forty years after the job ended. Alongside the civil claim, Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit may be claimable for prescribed diseases, and we advise on both routes together.
Why Connaught Law
01Built for historic claimsExposure reconstruction, insurer tracing and era-correct duties — the unglamorous work that decides disease claims decades after the event.
02The right medical evidenceOccupational physicians, respiratory specialists and audiologists matched to the condition — because causation is where these claims are won.
03Senior attention throughoutYour claim is run by our experienced litigation team, not passed down — with direct access to the person handling it.
04No win, no feeMost industrial disease claims run under a conditional fee agreement, with the terms explained in full before you commit.
Fee structures and funding options are set out on our fees page — we discuss costs openly before you commit to anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I claim if the exposure happened decades ago?
Usually, yes. The three-year time limit runs from the date you first knew — or reasonably should have known — that your condition was linked to work, not from the exposure itself. For diseases with long latency, that is typically the date of diagnosis. Take advice as soon as the link is suggested; the clock is likely already running.
Can I sue my employer for COPD?
If workplace dust or fumes caused or materially worsened your COPD, yes — including against a former employer, and even where smoking also contributed, with compensation apportioned to the work-related share. The claim runs against the employer's liability insurance, and medical plus exposure evidence establishes the connection.
What if my old employer no longer exists?
The claim survives the company. Employers have been required to carry liability insurance for decades, and we trace the historic insurer through the Employers' Liability Tracing Office. Where no policy can be found, statutory schemes — including for mesothelioma — may still provide compensation.
What will it cost?
Most claims run on a no win no fee basis, so there is nothing to pay up front. You may also be entitled to Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit alongside a civil claim — we advise on both. Our fees page explains our fee structures in full.
Diagnosed with a work-related condition?
Tell us what you were exposed to and where you worked. We'll trace who's responsible — and their insurers — and give you an honest view of your claim before you commit to anything.
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