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Pesticide Exposure Compensation Claims

If you believe that you have developed an illness or injury due to pesticide exposure, The Legal Line's specialist personal injury solicitors may be able to help you.  With extensive experience in environmental health compensation claims, our lawyers can provide the best advice.  Call now on 0800 0328511 or by completing a compensation claim enquiry form.

How Can Pesticides Cause Injury?

Types of Pesticide

How can Pesticide Exposure be Prevented?
Making a Compensation Claim
Pesticide Exposure Compensation
The Legal Line Lawyers

How Can Pesticides Cause Injury?

Some chemical pesticides are hazardous to humans and a certain level of contact with them can cause a range of illnesses and skin conditions.  This could be caused by working with pesticides without sufficient protection, or through their incorrect or negligent use by another party.

For example a worker handling pesticides without suitable protective clothing and ventilation could be affected, or someone in the vicinity of an area where crops have been sprayed without the proper controls.

Exposure to pesticides can cause various health effects, including: hormonal and fertility problems, developmental defects, disturbed sleep patterns, respiratory problems and asthma, visual problems, running eyes and nose, sinus problems, joint pain, fatigue and problems with concentration, amongst others.

Consumers of edible food products such as fruit and vegetables must wash items thoroughly and ensure that work surfaces are kept clean. This may remove surface contamination by pesticides but does not guarantee that all the pesticide has been removed. It may have been systemically absorbed into the food product. Careful food preparation and cooking, if appropriate may be necessary.

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Types of Pesticide

Pesticides come in several forms and are used for a range of different purposes.  These include:

• Insecticides - to control insects
• Fungicides - to control fungus and mould
• Herbicides - to control weeds
• Rodenticides - to control rodents, i.e. rats and mice

Mostly, pesticides are used to protect growing crops or stored foods from the damage or contamination caused by pests.  Although they are generally safe and useful, the very nature of many pesticides is to destroy certain organisms and so they can be harmful if not used carefully and correctly.

Pesticides are also used in sheep dips, which often contain organophosphates.

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How Can Pesticide Exposure be Prevented?

Anyone who uses pesticides, for example farmers or local authorities, has a responsibility to do so as safely as possible in order to reduce the risk of injury to the surrounding population, wildlife and environment.

They should ensure that a risk assessment has been made, that they only use approved pesticides and that the application is carried out by fully qualified / trained persons in a careful and strictly controlled way.  It is also important to ensure that the correct equipment and method is used and the weather conditions are suitable (to prevent spray from drifting into unwanted areas, say, through being carried by the wind, the seepage and passage of water, standing surface water, streams or rivers and the contamination of the subterranean water table).

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Making a Compensation Claim

If you believe that you are suffering from an illness or condition caused by pesticides, it is important to seek medical advice as soon as possible, keeping a record of your symptoms and any treatments, as you may be entitled to claim personal injury compensation.  If applicable, also retain any evidence to support the exposure.  It is useful to keep details and receipts of any personal expenses that have arisen as the result of your injury or illness as well, as it may be possible to reclaim these at a later date.

In order to investigate whether a personal injury claim can be made, it is necessary to collect as much detailed information as possible.  In every case, medical evidence will be required.  Detailed expert evidence is often also required in disease cases to show that the condition suffered by a claimant was caused by exposure to a particular substance.

In any personal injury claim it is necessary to show that the person you are making a claim against owed you a duty of care, that they breached that duty of care (were negligent), and that the injury you sustained was a reasonably foreseeable consequence of that negligence.

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Pesticide Exposure Compensation

There are two elements to a compensation award.  The first is for the pain and suffering you may have gone through and what is known as loss of amenity.  This is called general damages and can include an award for your inability to do things that you used to be able to do before (eg play sports, look after your garden, shopping etc).  The award for loss of amenity can be for a short period or for ever if that is what the medical evidence supports.

The second element of a compensation award is for your losses and expenses and is known as special damages.  It is important to keep receipts for any expenditure you have related to your pesticide related illness, so that these can be reclaimed.  The aim is to put you back in a position financially as if the exposure to pesticides had never occurred.

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The Legal Line Lawyers

At The Legal Line, our specialist personal injury lawyers are experienced in all areas of personal injury and industrial disease claims, so can provide you with expert claim advice, assistance and guidance on your potential case. 

This service is offered on a completely cost free, risk free basis to all of our customers, as our solicitors are able to reclaim their costs from the responsible party, following the claim.

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