International Workers' Memorial Day and the tactics of the asbestos industry

International Workers' Memorial Day was first brought to the UK in 1992 by the late Hazards campaigner Tommy Harte. It serves as a day to “Remember the Dead: Fight for the Living.”  Every 28 April, we come together to remember those who have lost their lives because of work, and to renew our commitment to protect the living and make work safe.

Coincidentally, 1992 was also the year I began my legal career. As we reflect on those we have lost, I’m reminded of one of the first asbestos cases I worked on more than three decades ago — a case that has stayed with me ever since.

Asbestos exposure and Turner & Newall (T&N)

I have represented asbestos victims and their families since the very beginning of my career, which started in a small high street legal aid practice. One of my earliest cases involved a widow, Annie, whose husband Joseph had died of mesothelioma. His asbestos exposure began as a 14‑year‑old boy in the early 1930s when he briefly worked for Turner Asbestos Cement (TAC), part of the Turner & Newall Group, at their Widnes factory.

Turner & Newall was founded in 1871 in Rochdale and became the first UK company to weave asbestos fibres into cloth. The company expanded rapidly, changing its name to Turner Brothers Asbestos Company in 1879 and later opening an asbestos cement plant in Trafford Park, Manchester  before the First World War. One of their most recognisable products from this era was the Trafford tile asbestos cement sheet.

By 1920, following mergers with Washington Chemical Company, Newall’s Insulation Company and J.W. Roberts, the company became Turner & Newall — though they quietly dropped “asbestos” from their name, their use of the material only intensified.

Over the decades, T&N operated asbestos‑manufacturing factories across the UK, including Trafford Park, Widnes, Erith, Rhoose, Tamworth, Ditton, Ballyclare, Chapel‑en‑le‑Frith, Caernarvon, Wellingborough, Rochdale, Hindley Green, Washington and County Durham.

By this point, the dangers of asbestos were increasingly recognised. In 1955, a study conducted in Rochdale demonstrated a clear link between asbestos and cancer. T&N attempted to suppress the findings and even commissioned their own scientist to publish work aimed at discrediting the study.

Despite growing health concerns and workers speaking out, T&N continued using asbestos until the 1980s. By 1973, they had nine major manufacturing subsidiaries in the UK. The company began to decline towards the end of the century and was eventually bought by American firm Federal‑Mogul in 1998.

Because of its extensive and long‑standing use of asbestos, Turner & Newall is remembered as one of the largest asbestos conglomerates in the world.

A fight for justice

Returning to Annie’s case — you might expect that a claim for an asbestos‑related death involving a man who worked in an asbestos factory would be straightforward. That was likely why such a young trainee lawyer, me, was given the case.

It was anything but straightforward.

Turner & Newall fought us at every stage. At the time, they seemed willing to deploy unlimited resources to resist asbestos claims. Their first argument was that Joseph’s exposure had been so long ago that they couldn’t possibly have known of the dangers. Joseph had worked for T&N between 1931 and 1933 — crucially, the Asbestos Industry Regulations 1931 came into force on 1 March 1932.

Despite T&N’s insistence that Joseph had left before the regulations applied, and despite the lack of surviving records, Annie was able to confirm he was still working there in 1932 — the year she met him.

As the trial approached, T&N sought and obtained permission to amend their Defence. They eventually conceded that Joseph had worked at the Widnes factory, had been exposed to asbestos and had died from mesothelioma. However, they now argued that chrysotile (white asbestos) was harmless and could not cause mesothelioma. They also alleged that only white asbestos had been used at the Widnes factory during the early 1930s.

This was 1996/97 — asbestos had not yet been banned in the UK, and manufacturers were lobbying various governments to declare white asbestos safe. The global ban campaign was still gathering momentum.

We had no choice but to adjourn the trial to gather further evidence. Sadly, Annie died during this delay. It felt as though she had held on for her day in court but could wait no longer. Her adult children continued the fight.

T&N’s tactics escalated. To support their claim that they used only white asbestos, they disclosed a warehouse full of documents. I travelled to their Trafford Park site and spent days sifting through box after box, not fully knowing what I was looking for — only that something had to be there.

Is white asbestos safe?

Absolutely not. All forms of asbestos are carcinogenic, and all asbestos types are linked with diseases including asbestosis and mesothelioma — a cancer almost always caused by asbestos exposure. Asbestos earned the label “Killer Dust” in UK press headlines as early as 1965, a title fully deserved.

Today, we know that so‑called white asbestos is never “pure”; it is contaminated at source with tremolite — an amphibole asbestos capable of causing mesothelioma. But in the 1990s, the argument was still very much alive, and based on the published science of the time, it was challenging to win on that point alone.

Our medical expert, Dr A. John Robertson, recommended we speak to Dr Kevin Woodthorpe Browne, a retired Chief Medical Officer to HM Inspector of Factories. During the subsequent five‑day trial in the Liverpool County Court, he gave compelling evidence that at least one product manufactured at the Widnes factory during Joseph’s employment required blue or brown asbestos to reinforce the mix or accelerate the setting process.

Following a reserved judgment, we were successful. Not long afterwards, the “white asbestos is safe” campaign collapsed, and asbestos was finally banned in the UK in 1999.

Asbestos claims in 2026

As noted earlier, Turner & Newall’s purchase by Federal‑Mogul was followed by a surge in global asbestos litigation. T&N filed for bankruptcy in 2001, and a trust was later created to compensate victims — though often at levels far below what the courts might have awarded.

More than 30 years after my first asbestos case, I have acted for hundreds of victims and bereaved families whose lives have been changed forever by mesothelioma and asbestos‑related lung cancer. I wish I could say the tactics I encountered early in my career no longer exist, but this is sadly not the case.

Cape, another major UK asbestos manufacturer, continues to fight cases almost to the courtroom door, often failing to disclose key documents until challenged, or burying claimants in excessive paperwork. Many of the same obstacles asbestos lawyers faced in the 1990s are still encountered in 2026.

This is why we support the Asbestos Victims Support Groups Forum campaign urging Cape to contribute £10 million towards vital mesothelioma research. After decades of profiting from asbestos products, they have a responsibility to help fund better treatments and, one day, a cure.

If you want to understand more about the tactics of the asbestos industry, the BBC podcast Assume Nothing: Killer Dust offers a powerful insight.

Standing up for asbestos victims

There seems to be no depth to which the asbestos and insurance industries will not sink to avoid compensating victims and families. I remain determined to uncover the truth, to challenge these tactics, and to secure justice for those harmed by this deadly mineral.

Our national Leigh Day asbestos team has decades of experience and has been involved in all major test cases in this field. If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with mesothelioma or another asbestos‑related condition, please contact us for free and confidential advice:

• Liverpool: 0151 305 2760
• London: 0800 689 5854
• Manchester: 0161 393 3600