Occupational and Environmental Exposure Reconstruction Case Study
Project: Occupational and environmental exposure reconstruction
Client: Rio Tinto plc
The Challenge
The client was faced with claims that workplace exposures experienced by current and former employees at two of their sites (a large open-pit uranium mine in Africa and a non-ferrous metal smelter in Humberside) had led to ill health. In the case of the smelter, the claims also extended to ill health allegedly experienced by residents.
In order to deal equitably with these claims, the client needed to assess the probability that the illnesses experienced by individual claimants were in fact caused by their occupational or environmental exposures.
The Solution
In both cases we worked with staff from the client company to:
- Collate and interpret relevant documents and records pertinent to the claims.
- Identify relevant aspects of the history of site plant and processes.
- Establish occupational exposure databases for uranium series radionuclides, lead, arsenic and cadmium.
In the case of the uranium mine, a programme of special measurements to determine key characteristics of exposure was designed and executed.
We were then able to use the results of these investigations to quantify the exposures of individual claimants. In the case of the metal smelter it was also possible to carry out – and publish in the scientific literature – an epidemiological study of male employees.
The Benefits
- In the case of the mine, the claims were rejected at a preliminary High Court hearing, saving the client the substantial costs associated with a full trial in the UK Civil courts.
- In the case of the smelter, our work has provided solid scientific information (in a peer-reviewed journal) on the possible effects on health of employment at the smelter.
- Media coverage of the publication of this research has helped manage public expectations of the eventual outcome of claims.
- Claims related to the smelter are currently being considered through an agreed Alternative Claims Resolution procedure, administered by the London based City Disputes Panel, rather than the more confrontational and costly civil litigation route.
Key publication: Binks K., Doll R., Gillies M., Holroyd C., Jones S.R., McGeoghegan D., Scott L., Wakeford R. and Walker P. Mortality experience of workers at a UK tin smelter. Occupational Medicine, 55, 2, 1-12, 2005.