A leading campaigner for victims of mesothelioma has died after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
Labour MP Paul Goggins died on 7 January just over a week after he was taken seriously ill while out running with his son near his home.
Mr Goggins, MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East, Greater Manchester, worked tirelessly to campaign for victims of the fatal, asbestos-related disease. A fierce campaigner for mesothelioma victims, he highlighted shortcomings in the mesothelioma bill with the aim of getting more compensation for sufferers.
The bill was debated at report stage in the House of Commons on 7 January, beginning with a new clause proposing to extend a levy on the insurance industry to pay for research into the disease.
The clause was tabled in the name of Mr Goggins, and moved by Conservative MP Tracey Crouch in his absence.
She warned that “the peak of those to be diagnosed is yet to come” and that “research into this cancer is shamefully under-funded”.
However, shadow work and pensions minister Kate Green reminded MPs that at committee stage Mr Goggins had “rejected any suggestions that it was a lack of suitable research proposals rather than a lack of adequate research funding that was leading to this dearth of activity”.
Pushed to a vote, the new clause was rejected by 266 votes to 226, a reduced government majority of 40.
In July 2013, while speaking at an event at Lincoln Square in Manchester to raise awareness of mesothelioma, Mr Goggins said: “Whilst it is clearly good news that the Government have brought forward the mesothelioma bill to allow more victims to claim compensation, there are still considerable improvements that need to be made to the bill.
“The eligibility for compensation should be the point at which insurers were made aware the Government were looking to them to pay compensation — which would be at the start of the official consultation period — February 2010, not the end — July 2012. It is also vital that the compensation should be set at 100% of the average, not 70%. Anything else would be an insult to those families who have fought so hard, and for so long, for justice.”
Approaches to managing the risks associated Musculoskeletal disorders
In this episode of the Safety & Health Podcast, we hear from Matt Birtles, Principal Ergonomics Consultant at HSE’s Science and Research Centre, about the different approaches to managing the risks associated with Musculoskeletal disorders.
Matt, an ergonomics and human factors expert, shares his thoughts on why MSDs are important, the various prevalent rates across the UK, what you can do within your own organisation and the Risk Management process surrounding MSD’s.
