{"id":12200,"date":"2017-04-26T12:11:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-26T11:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12200"},"modified":"2017-04-27T11:35:58","modified_gmt":"2017-04-27T10:35:58","slug":"didnt-come-work-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12200","title":{"rendered":"‘We didn’t come to work to die’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

In part 3 of UNITElive’s International Workers’ Memorial Day series, we speak to Unite shop steward Neal Hodkinson about his fight against asbestos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While accidents in the workplace are far too common and often end in fatalities, it is actually a silent, mostly latent disease that is the deadliest killer at work.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Each year in the UK, about 2,500 people die from mesothelioma, an incurable cancer of the lining of the lung caused by exposure to asbestos. And about a 1,000 more people will die from other asbestos-related diseases.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even though the tiny toxic fibres in construction materials were mostly banned in 1999 — which significantly reduced the risk of illness or death for people working in sites built after 2000 — asbestos is still found in older buildings and continues to pose a threat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite (formerly Ucatt) senior shop steward Neal Hodkinson has worked in construction for Nottingham City Homes for over thirty years, and he said that in the early days, he and his colleagues were told working around asbestos was entirely safe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat makes me so angry is that the dangers of asbestos were well-known and documented even at that time, but companies hid the truth from us and there weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t laws in place to protect us,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Indeed, the UK has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world because it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t ban asbestos until years after most developed countries had.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Safety masks, Hodkinson pointed out, were used at work sites back then but they were essentially useless.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere were gaps in the masks \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we often found that just as much dirt would collect inside the masks as outside.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most people who develop mesothelioma do so decades after exposure to asbestos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Horrific’<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hodkinson himself has lost two colleagues to the deadly cancer. He visited one, a fellow Ucatt shop steward, shortly before his death at his home.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is an absolutely horrific way to die,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut he stayed positive \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he understood and accepted the inevitabilities of the disease and went with his head held high.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another colleague, a new Ucatt rep, developed the cancer and it progressed very quickly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hodkinson said he visited his colleague towards the end in hospital.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t recognise him at all. It was really hard seeing him like that \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he was a big, tough guy who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been totally eaten up by the disease.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hodkinson said the moment was bittersweet because for the first time ever, he saw his daughter, who is a nurse, at work in the same hospital where he was visiting his dying colleague.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt was a strange mix of pride at seeing my daughter in uniform helping others and then a sense of profound sadness seeing my friend and colleague dying from a disease that could have been prevented and knowing that I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do anything for him.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Their deaths are also unnerving, Hodkinson explains, because you always live with the fear that you could be next.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Hodkinson the fear has been amplified by the discovery that he has scarring in the lining of his lungs, known as pleural plaques. Pleural plaques, which often have no symptoms, indicate heavy exposure to asbestos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI discovered I had pleural plaques by accident, which is how most people discover them because there are usually no symptoms,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he notes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hodkinson had gone to hospital after sustaining a minor injury in the chest during a mixed martial arts training session. An X-ray revealed the deep scarring in his lungs after years of breathing in asbestos.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAbove all I just feel this heavy sense of regret \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that none of this had to happen to any of us. I wish I could go back but at the time you aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily thinking about whether the working environment you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in is safe. All we were thinking about is getting on with the job so we could feed our families.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What helps Hodkinson cope now is becoming involved in campaigning on asbestos awareness and fighting for health and safety through his union Unite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go back in time so the best thing I can do now is work to help others,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And trade unions, he believes, are the best vehicle for doing just that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe must remember that all campaigning to ban asbestos and bring justice to affected workers originated in the trade union movement. Nobody else was doing anything about the problem except the trade unions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

International Workers Memorial Day on Friday (April 28) takes on for Hodkinson a very personal significance.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the working classes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t come to work to die,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo for me the purpose of the day is two-fold \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to remember those who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve died and to fight for those who are living,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he says. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bHaving a specific day like Workers Memorial Day helps to focus our movement \u00e2\u20ac\u201c to remind us that we still have much more work to do.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s International Workers Memorial Day events on Friday on our web page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you think you’ve been exposed to asbestos, find out more about Unite’s asbestos register and access other asbestos-related resources here<\/a>. Check out too a joint union campaign<\/a> on eliminating asbestos in schools.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In part 3 of UNITElive’s International Workers’ Memorial Day series, we speak to Unite shop steward Neal Hodkinson about his fight against asbestos.   While accidents in the workplace are far too common and often end in fatalities, it is actually a silent, mostly latent disease that is the deadliest killer at work.   Each […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[216,516],"wps_subtitle":"Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Neal Hodkinson tells of his fight against asbestos","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12200"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12202,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12200\/revisions\/12202"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}