Our campaign aims to raise awareness about industrial illness, particularly in areas with heavy industry, factories and docks.

Industrial Illness is the term given to medical conditions which was sustained in the workplace, the main ones being: exposure to asbestos, vibration white finger or HAVS (Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome) and deafness from working in a noisy environment.

We want to ensure people who have symptoms understand what is wrong with them, and why, and also know their rights to make a claim for compensation, there millions of people in the UK suffering from these conditions who aren’t aware that they are eligible to make a claim.

We have built up one of the UK’s largest databases of employers and workplaces where staff have suffered industrial illness, as a result they have instant access to insurers information making the process of claiming much quicker.

Asbestos – Asbestos was formally regarded as a wonder substance due to its heat resistant properties. Regrettably exposure to asbestos has also caused large numbers of people to suffer from disabling and life threatening medical conditions. Since the 1930s it has been recognised that asbestos was capable of causing disease.

Despite this the wide spread use of asbestos did not cease until the 1980s and exposure to asbestos still continues whenever and wherever it is removed. Asbestos exposure causes five main medical conditions. These are Pleural Plaques, Diffuse Pleural Thickening, Asbestosis, Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma. Some of these medical conditions cause breathlessness and disability. Others can be fatal. None of these conditions occur immediately. It usually takes at least fifteen years after exposure for the conditions to materialise and for symptoms to occur. It often takes a lot longer.

As a result the Health & Safety Executive predicts that people will still be suffering from and dieing as a result of asbestos related conditions after the year 2030. Asbestos related conditions are not reserved for people who are still alive and worked with asbestos. Successful claims have also been made by:-

• Employees who worked in the vicinity of other people using asbestos

• Family members who were exposed to dust brought home on relatives clothing

• Occupiers of premises where asbestos existed or was removed

• Relatives of family members who have died from Asbestos related disease

Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) – is vibration which reaches the hands whilst working with handheld power tools, hand-guided machinery, or by holding materials against a moving surface.

Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) is the collective term for a range of long-term injuries to arms, hands, wrists, fingers or thumbs resulting from prolonged exposure to hand transmitted vibration. Damage occurs to the circulation and nerve supply to the hands, the symptoms of which include blanching (whitening), numbness, tingling and loss of nerve function.

(VWF), the most well known form of Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome or HAVS, results from damage to the blood circulatory system. Typically, fingers become white when cold and then red and painful when warmed up again.

It is estimated that around five million people are exposed to hand arm vibration (HAVS) with some two million being regularly exposed at levels where there are clear risks of developing disease.

Deafness – Noise Induced Hearing Loss – In 1963 the Government produced a document confirming that noise at work could cause hearing loss and tinnitus (noises in the ear). Since then employers have been required to assess the level of noise within their work place.

Where the noise was assessed as being excessive they have been required to take reasonable steps to reduce the noise levels. Where this has not proved possible they have been required to provide and enforce the wearing of hearing protection.

Many employers have failed to follow Government guidance relating to noise at work. As a result tens of thousands of employees have had their hearing damaged by their employment. There are many jobs which create excessive noise.

It is a popular misconception that you have to operate machinery for your hearing to be damaged. In fact a lot of Claimants with noise induced hearing loss simply worked in a noisy factory. If the noise to which you were exposed at work was so loud that you had to shout to make yourself heard then the chances are that your hearing was damaged by your employment.

You can get free advice and much more information on specific illnesses and diseases at http://www.pintopotts.co.uk

By: Simon Chapple

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Going on holiday is great we all love it; it’s the one time we all get to relax and take a break from our hectic lives and spend some quality time with our family and friends. Taking a holiday on a cruise ship may be your holiday of a lifetime or your yearly summer holiday whatever it may be you don’t want it ruined by illness or injuries.

Tour operators and travel agents have a duty to all their clients to make sure all accommodation is clean and safe as well as making sure the ship is disease and infection free. Going on holiday is supposed to be relaxing but every year there are holidaymakers who come home feeling stressed, feeling cheated as well as having injuries which may affect their lives forever.

In 1992 a law came into force to implement consumer protection on holiday it’s called ‘The Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992′. It’s there to help and protect clients who go on package holiday like a cruise ship holiday.

Over 1 million people took a holiday on a cruise ship in 2005 and this could easily reach 1.5 million by 2010 and therefore any illness or injuries caused onboard a cruise ship needs to be dealt with professionally and in the clients best interests. Thousands of these passengers every year suffer an illness or an injury whilst onboard the ship, these include:

• Slip and Trips onboard the ship due to the negligence of other passengers or staff

• Food Poisoning from poor hygiene standards this includes: Norovirus, Salmonella and Norwalk

• Bacterial infections from poor hygiene and contaminated water this includes: Typhoid, E-coli and Legionnaires disease

• Accidents on day trip excursions when the ship is in port

If you have suffered an injury maybe a broken leg after tripping and falling over something or having been infected with Salmonella whatever it may be this would of definitely ruined your relaxing and stress free holiday. You shouldn’t suffer in silence and think what if, you should contact a solicitor who specialises in holiday illnesses and injury compensation claims.

The solicitor will help you make a successful compensation claim not only for your injury or illness but also for:

• Your pain and suffering mentally and physically

• For the loss of enjoyment of your holiday

• Loss of earnings if you’ve been unable to return to work when you’ve returned home

• The expenses that you may have had to pay including hospital fees, medicine costs and any other medication you may have had to pay for

You will need to have a solicitor who has knowledge in the area of holiday compensation claims as they can become complex, so don’t sit and suffer in silence, make a claim today and get the compensation you deserve!

By: Jene Pedder

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When it comes to dealing with chronic fatigue during the holidays, I urge you to leave the magical thinking to Santa and his elves. Whirling into the season like you have been issued a new body is going to lead to only one place. A melt down. So don’t go there. Here are some tips that I’ve found useful in keeping my MS related fatigue under control during the holidays, and stopped me getting any accidents abroad.
Make an Energy Budget on your calendar. Plan each week’s events with your fatigue levels in mind. Decide realistically what activities are top priority and accept only those invitations that you can comfortably accomplish. If need be, err on the side of being self protective and conservative. Work on tasks collaboratively with other family members and friends. Most things like decorating, baking, cooking, and writing holiday greetings are actually more fun done with others. Let everyone help, especially the kids. It may mean that your Christmas tree will look a little different from the vision you had, but I’ve found that things are more fun shared and memories are made in the process. Speaking of holiday greetings, I propose that you adapt the much maligned form letter to ease the job of communicating with your holiday list. These can be done tastefully. Make it one page, avoid creating a brag rag by focusing a paragraph on something personal about each family member’s news. Don’t list purchases and acquisitions but do talk about events like graduations, new careers, births and deaths. Start early and do a few cards each day, and add a short handwritten personalized note that focuses on the recipient. Consider a Stuff Free Holiday. Most of us have way more stuff than we really need. Consider a moratorium on unnecessary giving and channel the expenditure towards a good cause. Focus on the spiritual part of the tradition that you celebrate versus the commercial manifestations. Or at least pare it way down. This decreases shopping, wrapping, and schlepping stuff around. It saves you energy and does something worthwhile with your dollars. Travel carefully. We tend to start scurrying around as soon as the Halloween pumpkins start to spoil. Slow down. Consolidate errands. Hopefully, if you’ve attended to tips one through four, you’ll be going fewer places and enjoying yourself more at the stops you do make. Plan rest times into your trips to regroup.

As November rolls into December it is easy for those of us with limited energy to get overwhelmed and turn into Scrooge impersonators. There are so many places to go, things to do, and occasions to mark. These are some of the things I’ve found that help me keep my chronic fatigue stable. I encourage you to try some of them and keep your holidays merry!

By: Eileen Schweickert

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A diagnosis seems like a never ending list of things-to-do. On top of doctor’s appointments, lab visits, trips to the pharmacy and other treatments there are the changes that take place in your day-to-day life stripping you of energy and focus. There are three things to consider when facing a life-altering health diagnosis that can give you energy and help restore your focus.

Build Your Immune System

Your immune system is the army that fights disease. This is the root of your personal defense system that works to regain balance in the body. Balance is a concept we in Western Culture don’t pay enough attention to so we keep doing more of the same hoping for different results. On the other hand Chinese Medicine looks for imbalance within various organs of your body. The goal is to restore the body’s natural balance making it uncomfortable for illness to reside within the body. This is only one way of building your immune system.

There are mind-body alternatives such as meditation or guided visualization. These methods look at relieving stress and getting you to eradicate the negative energy that may be an obstacle to your health. Visualization takes you on an inner journey and the example is that of playing Pac Man shooting and destroying the intruders within your body. Obviously there are other types of visualization, but this one gets many people interested because it seems to active in nature.

Don’t Own the Illness

You are not your illness. Your illness is something you have, not something you are. It is a component of your current life, but not your identity. There is a difference between saying “my diabetes vs. the diabetes”. Don’t make the illness feel welcome in any way, shape or form. It is an unwanted guest; so don’t become familiar with the disease itself. Learn everything you can about being the illness’ biggest adversary.

When you allow the illness to define you, automatically you feel defeated. It’s the difference between you having an illness, and the illness having you. Your decisions and actions will be different in each of these situations. Having control over your health is empowering and let’s the mind-body connection shift into high gear. It puts the illness in it’s place, as an unwelcome guest.

Forgive Yourself

You are not the cause of your illness. We are a culture that feeds on blaming people for their misfortune. Forgiving yourself for not being mindful of your health is different than taking responsibility for you illness. It’s important to remember that being gentle with yourself as you go through treatment softens the harshness of treatment. Whenever you show yourself compassion, you give the treatment an added boost in fighting your illness.

Treatment isn’t only medication and machines. You do have control on how potent these medications or treatments impact the body by the importance you give them. When we make these internal shifts we fortify our treatments giving us the opportunity to validate our efforts toward wellness.

By: Greg Katz

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It is a chilling thought that 95% of adults in the UK have no financial protection to help them cope were they to suffer a serious illness. But having to take time off to recover can wreak havoc on the family budget.

Some employers offer critical illness insurance cover for workers who suffer from long-term illness, but they are the exception rather than the rule. And the welfare state is no longer as kind as it used to be. Benefits payable to those who fall ill and cannot work are under constant review and in some cases have been reduced. Critical illness insurance is a possible solution. Since policies were first offered in this country in the mid-Eighties sales have rocketed from 132,000 in 1991 to 626,000 in 1997.

Yet the sad fact remains that too few people have seen the critical light. Have you? If not, read on – but ignore this resource on critical illness insurance at your peril.

What is critical illness insurance?

Also known as dread disease cover, critical illness insurance cover pays benefits on the diagnosis of certain illnesses. Over the years the range of diseases covered has increased to more than 30, though contracts differ from one company to another. However, most policies will pay after heart disease, strokes, renal failure, some cancer, paralysis, major organ transplants and coronary artery bypass surgery.

They will also pay if a critical illness insurance policyholder becomes permanently totally disabled as a result of injury or illness.

How does a policy pay out?

Typically, the benefit is paid as one-off lump sum and is tax-free. The maximum payable varies between providers, but usually ranges between £100,000 and £250,000. Payment is generally made within 28 days of a serious illness being diagnosed though in the event of permanent disability it will take longer usually six months to a year.

How may the benefits be used?

It is entirely up to you. They may be used to pay off a mortgage or clear outstanding debts. They may also be used to pay for childcare or home help as well as adaptations necessary to a home or car. Crucially, benefits from a critical illness insurance policy give you time to come to terms with your condition and decide what changes you want or need to make to your life.

Does a critical illness insurance policy pay if I die?

No. Benefits are payable only to survivors. Obviously, the shorter the required survival time, the better. Some insurance companies will pay as long as you survive a critical illness for a minimum 15 days. However, policies that combine critical illness and life cover may be bought.

Is critical illness cover the same as Permanent life insurance?

No. They cover different needs. A Permanent Life Insurance policy or Income Protection Life Insurance as it is sometimes referred to – pays a regular income in the event of long-term sickness or injury. The payments cease if the policyholder recovers from illness. In contrast, a critical illness policy will make a one-off payment after diagnosis of a serious illness, providing the policyholder with the opportunity to protect his or her quality of life by allowing repayment of a loan, funding a holiday for convalescence or paying for care.

There are a number of instances where payments under one plan would not be allowed under. If, for example, you suffer from severe back pain, you will not be covered under a critical illness insurance policy, but will probably qualify for payment under the terms of an Income Protection Life Insurance plan. In contrast, a minor stroke would probably qualify for a critical illness payment, but it would not necessarily be eligible under an income protection scheme.

Why should I buy such insurance?

For some people, surviving a major illness or accident followed by years of failing health is a fate worse than death. And as medical science advances, the chances of surviving a major illness are greater than ever.

The financial consequences of serious illness can be massive, leading to a loss or drop income for the sufferer as well as limiting the earning potential of any carer. A critical illness insurance policy can provide a welcome financial boost at a time of great emotional stress and financial hardship.

By: Elizabeth Mathers Stankovic

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Ok Im considering buying travel insurance,but Im just wondering how does it work with Lost/stolen baggage…for example..Youre in a taxi and the taxi takes off with your baggage..In order to get reimbursed for what you lost must you have receipts of everything in that bag?can you get up to a certain amount without receipts?
and once you make a claim how long does it take for you to get reimbursed?does it happen while youre still on vacation?
Thanks

By: MaikelCuminme

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I’m thinking of traveling from Canada to the USA for a week next summer. I am 69 and my wife is 67. I have high cholesterol and triglycerides treated with a statin and my wife has some balance problems. Generally, our day-to-day health is fine.

Can you tell me about how much it will cost to buy travel insurance for medical risks if we decide to go?

By: Dennis G

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I am a Canadian citizen, I pay my taxes and my medical bills on time and I am still considered a resident of Canada. I have been in China for over a year and my previous insurance ran out – which didn’t matter because I am covered in China by the school I work for. Now I have to go to Ghana for a week. I’d like to buy travel insurance, but all the sites I’m finding say that you must be in Canada to buy the insurance. I can’t go home first! What should I do?

By: ouleixia

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My girlfriend is Ukrainian and will be coming over to the UK for two weeks next month. Does anyone know of anywhere where she can purchase travel and medical insurance for her trip?

By: Adam C

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I have a relative looking to visit me here in the USA. They have obtained all of the required visa and documents to travel. The airline though is asking them for travel insurance information. They claim that people have to have insurance before they can travel. Is this true? I know when I travel internationally, I do not have to get anything.

By: Rick B

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