One of the special aspects of the asbestos problem is the extended latency period. There is a very long period between the time of exposure and the occurrence of asbestos disease. According to the latest calculations by the IAS, an average of fifty years has passed between the first contact with asbestos and the development of mesothelioma. This causes problems for asbestos victims to obtain compensation.
Do you remember what exactly you did for work fifty years ago? Many asbestos victims come from industrial professions and often can remember surprisingly well technical processes or products with which they worked. But sometimes it is also less easy. "Asbestos was a normal product at the time, you did not pay attention at all", I recently heard an old carpenter say.
Another aspect is that people who clean up their attic and regularly throw away old papers realize that this in itself has good habit disadvantages. An asbestos victim who can still remember to be exposed to asbestos in the sixties in a company is left empty-handed if he can not prove that he has worked there. The fact that a former employer or his insurer wants to see proof of employment before taking part in mediation on liability is very understandable. Because at such a long period, a lot has changed in the company. The company has often switched to another organization or the former personnel administration no longer exists. It is therefore necessary that the asbestos victim can prove with facts that he has worked at the company.
For asbestos victims it is then the art to check old shoe boxes. Employees of the Asbestos Victims Institute (IAS) can give various tips. A certificate or a gift at a service jubilee can be decisive for mediation for compensation.
In fact, the IAS is doing a form of company history research with the victim. This is a scientific specialty in which the past is studied from the perspective of the companies. Part of this specialism is that the historian looks at the entrepreneur, the employees, customers and suppliers. The industry is also discussed. The result of such research is often beautiful books that describe the societal and socio-economic significance of the company or industry.
The company historian has his own instruments. One succeeds in finding sources that can support the image of the past or nuance on important points. The staff of the IAS recently followed a workshop by Bram Bouwens and Keetie Sluyterman from Utrecht University about the set of tools in company history. It was a very instructive afternoon. Bram told a Keetie about their handiwork: approaching different archives. A distinction can be made between public and private business archives. In order to understand a company archive one uses the inventory and the placement list. The company historian is interested in the minutes of the Board of Directors, the annual reports, but also in the internal staff magazine or the past of a staff association.
In the workshop, the handwork itself was put into practice after the presentation. The IAS employees went to work in groups with a case. Whoever says that sniffing in archives is boring and dusty was belied. It is actually fascinating research. The IAS employees made it a contest of who can expose most of the details of the past. A revelation for the attendees was the website www.delpher.nl . This website shows the incredible amount of 60 million pages of newspapers, books and magazines from the past.
A few weeks after the workshop the first fruits are already picked. An asbestos victim has no evidence that his employment could be demonstrated. And the employer can not find the person in question in their own personnel archive. The victim knows that in 1962 he was swept away from the internal company school. The IAS employee sees that the staff magazine of the company can be found in Delpher. In a publication of the magazine in 1962 is a photograph of the generation of the successful employees, with the name of the conscious asbestos victim as a caption.
Mediating for compensation from an asbestos victim has a sad cause. But when, through the application of modern methods, the IAS exposes the victim's asbestos history and can therefore obtain compensation, this gives a light feeling of triumph.
Comments
Post a Comment