83 Year Old Man Dies from Mesothelioma Days After Winning Compensation

July 9th, 2006

AN employee of a former ice cream factory has died of an asbestos-related disease - just days after being awarded a significant amount in compensation.

Mervyn Winter, 83, was diagnosed with mesothelioma last July and died on Thursday. Just two weeks earlier his claim for contracting the condition while working in the Carrington St, city, factory of Amscol, which is now defunct, was settled.

The payout - details of which have not been revealed - may open the way for hundreds of other former Amscol workers to make claims for exposure to asbestos which insulated steam sterilisation and refrigeration pipes in the building.

Mr Winter's son, Stephen, 55, of Encounter Bay, said his father was not interested in the money, only the truth.

"Money was the furthest thing from his mind," he said. "He just wanted to find out what happened then be on the public record as a victim of asbestos from his workplace.

"Dad used to take me to work when I was a child and my sister worked in the office there - it was a real shock to everyone to realise what had happened. It is a very debilitating disease and dad was on oxygen for the final few months, then we lost our mum five weeks ago and he went downhill.

"There are no winners from this but at least we know what happened."

To finalise the claim, an intricate process of detective work was needed. Mr Winter did not know how he got the disease, Amscol had long since disappeared as a company and its insurer was unknown. He worked at the Amscol (Adelaide Milk Supply Co-operative Ltd) city plant from 1951 to 1978.

In its heyday, the plant was SA's major ice cream producer and milk distributor but its fortunes waned and it was deregistered in 1986 - almost a decade after Mr Winter left.

Concerned about how he contracted the disease, Mr Winter contacted lawyers Slater and Gordon, which specialises in this area, and lawyer Renata Mazzone was assigned to the case. As night shift overseer at Amscol who had to climb steps to stir milk vats, Mr Winter recalled regularly brushing against the insulated pipes.

Every time Mr Winter and other workers brushed against them asbestos dust or fibres were released into the air and inhaled.

The workers also told of asbestos in the roof sheeting which occasionally was disturbed to lower in new machinery by crane, and of asbestos used in the maintenance workshop. Further inquiries found an insurer that covered part of the period in question, while the Statutory Reserve Fund - run by WorkCover to cover unfunded claims - covered the remaining period.

Last month Mr Winter's claim for compensation was settled with a confidential joint payment by the insurer and fund.

The case began in January and was fast-tracked due to Mr Winter's illness.

No other former workers from Amscol so far have approached Slater and Gordon with similar claims.

Ms Mazzone said the case had been a challenge.

"When Mr Winter approached us he had no idea where the exposure to asbestos could have come from," she said. "We had to put the pieces of a puzzle together."

While Mr Winter's case was challenging, Ms Mazzone said it was not unusual.

"We come across it all the time. People are at a loss to know how they got the disease because they have had jobs - such as office workers - with no apparent exposure," she said.

Source: The Advertiser - Brad Crouch