Asbestos claims rising.

• Author: Larmour, Adelle
• Position: Asbestos related disease trends and forecast

Asbestos-related claims are on the rise and anticipated to increase into the future, says a Workplace Safety & Insurance Board (WSIB) official.

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In fact, mesothelioma (an asbestos-related illness) claims have doubled in the last five years, according to Fergus Kerr, director of the Occupational Disease and Survivor Benefit program.

"We allowed 90 claims last year for mesothelioma," Kerr says. "It is our projection that it will continue to increase."

Although that may not seem significant, a typical claim for the deadly disease averages around $500,000. The high price tag on the claims is attributed to the latency period of the illness (anywhere from 10 to 40 years) and the type of illness, which Kerr describes as probably the nastiest way to die, as it is a lingering death.

"Essentially, you drown in your own body, because it affects the pleural, the lining of the heart and lungs," he says. "It is incurable."

Another asbestos-related illness along side mesothelioma is asbestosis. Both are described as a "schedule for disease," meaning it is a scheduled occupational disease that is automatically compensable. Therefore, one would have to be involved in any specific process, mining, milling, manufacturing, assembling, construction, repair, etc., involving the generation of airborne asbestos where fibres were inhaled to acquire the disease.

Kerr says in many cases the claims are from survivors of workers who have already died.

"We compensate the survivors back to the date of death."

Eighty-five per cent of the salary is compensable, and paid to survivors depending upon age and number of dependents, along with pensions, burial costs and interest.

Other types of asbestos-related diseases are benign pleural diseases, pleural plaques and lung cancer; however, they require evidence of exposure.

"One of the challenges in the compensation of occupational diseases is a) determining exposures, and b) to determine the diagnosis, making sure there is a connection between the two," Kerr says. Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous mineral found all over the world. First discovered in Quebec by Joseph Fecteau in 1876, asbestos soon became the wonder material of the late 19th and 20th centuries, due to its strength and heat- and rot-resistant properties.

Consequently, it was widely used by industry for reinforcing products, friction materials, high temperature seals and gaskets, and later, insulation.

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