Asbestos victim heirs awarded €12,000 in compensation

The wife and children of a drydocks worker who died following prolonged exposure to asbestos have been awarded €12,000 in compensation from the state.

Emanuela Caruana, Joseph Caruana, Maria Assunta, Maria Dolores Sheridan and Savior Peter Caruana had filed proceedings in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Chief Government Medical Officer and the Attorney General following the death of Emanuel Caruana on 5 September 2005, at the age of 71.

Caruana had worked at the Malta Drydocks from 1959 to 1982 and had been extensively exposed to copious amounts of asbestos dust which eventually led to his death. The former shipyard lagger and driver had fallen ill in 2004, experiencing shortness of breath and extreme tiredness, and died in less than a year.

From the evidence it emerged that Caruana had been exposed to asbestos at his place of work, the health-related dangers of which had been known since the 1960s, but which the authorities had only started taking precautions for in the 1990s, after Caruana’s retirement.

Judge Mark Chetcuti, hearing the case, ruled that Emanuel Caruana’s death was the result of a serious omission on the part of the state which, not only had not enacted up to date legislation regarding the dangerous substance, but had also failed to make public recommendations on health and safety or the banning of its use.

“This led Emanuel Caruana to spend long years exposed to this material without any hint as to the dangers that he was being exposed to - a danger that from the late 60s was already evident and medically recognised.”

The judge, for this reason, upheld the plaintiff’s claim and ordered the Chief Government Medical Officer and the Attorney General to pay the Caruana family €12,000 by way of compensation.

Asbestos was widely used as an insulator, especially in the shipping industry. However, asbestos was found to cause mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer that could emerge up to 40 years after the person would have come in contact with the dangerous material.