Government u-turn hits disease sufferers

TUC Risks, - Hazards , 12 July 2008, reported that workers developing occupational diseases could lose out as a result of a government u-turn on retention of insurance records by employers.

The government is pressing ahead with a move to drop the requirement on firms to keep their employers' liability insurance records for 40 years - despite opposition from workplace health groups, lawyers, unions and insurers.

It has instead laid before parliament an order to revoke the record keeping requirement.

Critics argue that many occupational diseases, for example occupational cancers, may only develop decades after a worker was exposed to risks. The current requirement on firms to retain their Employers' Liability Compulsory Insurance details for 40 years was designed to ensure the insurer responsible for a payout for one of these 'long-tail' diseases - the one covering the firm at the time the negligent exposures occurred - could be identified.

Tony Whitston, chair of the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum UK criticised 'the government's manic determination to reduce administrative burdens on business', which he said was hurting occupational disease victims. 'Retaining insurance records costs each employer next to nothing but the burden and the cost of losing compensation is incalculable: it is not simply a question of financial compensation, but a question of justice and fairness.' He added: 'Introducing voluntary measures rather than a statutory central database for employers' liability insurance instead of the current regulation is totally unsatisfactory: there has to be a statutory requirement to retain and to record employers' liability insurance in a central register.'

The Government's approach would appear to be perverse given the raised awareness of chronic occupational diseases.