Ford Geelong workers urged to join asbestos register

Slater & Gordon lawyers are urging former employees from Ford in Geelong to lodge their details on the firm’s asbestos register.

Slater & Gordon asbestos lawyer Tracy Madden commented the firm had represented a number of ex-employees who had developed an asbestos-related disease after working at Ford in Geelong. The employees had worked at Ford in Geelong in a variety of professions, including on the production line and in maintenance.

Madden said: “We would encourage anyone who worked with the company in Geelong to put their names and details onto our asbestos register.

“It means that if, in the future, they are diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease, then we can move quickly to identify how and where their exposure may have occurred.”

Madden added that the firm did not want to alarm people who had worked at Ford: “In Australia, almost everyone has been exposed to asbestos fibres because of the huge take-up rate of the product in our country. CSR had a mine in Western Australia and James Hardie and Wunderlich manufactured products in Victoria.

“Unfortunately, there is no rhyme or reason as to why one person may develop cancer and another does not.

“The register records details about how, where and when someone may have been exposed to asbestos, meaning that the information is recorded for future reference.

“Someone did not have to be diagnosed with an asbestos illness to be on the register. But by registering, they are helping build up our information and resources in case a compensation claim needs to be made and the information on the register may also assist others who have been affected.

“The register is easily accessible for the purpose of the investigation, preparation and the running of a compensation claim.”

Slater & Gordon conducted the first successful common law asbestos litigation case in 1984 and has acted for thousands of people exposed to and diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.