Occupational asthma: could your workplace be making you ill?

Most people assume asthma is something you’re born with, or that develops in childhood. But for some UK workers, asthma starts in adulthood because of what they breathe in at work. Unfortunately, many cases of occupational asthma likely go unreported or are misattributed to other causes.

If you’ve developed breathing problems and you think it may be due to your occupation, you may be able to claim compensation.

Here, our personal injury lawyers explain what to look for, why the timing of symptoms matters, and which industries carry the highest risk.

What is occupational asthma?

Occupational asthma is asthma caused, or made significantly worse, by something you’re exposed to at work. This type of occupational disease is different from someone who already has asthma and finds their workplace makes it ‘flare up’.

Substances that cause occupational asthma generally fall into two groups:

1. Sensitisers, which trigger an allergic-type reaction in the airways after repeated exposure; and
2. Irritants, which inflame the airways at high-enough concentrations.

Symptoms to watch out for

Occupational asthma tends to show up in familiar ways, which is why it often remains undiagnosed or is misdiagnosed:

• Wheezing or a whistling sound when breathing
• Breathlessness, especially during or after work
• A tight feeling in the chest
• A persistent cough, often worse at night

One of the clearest signs is a pattern: symptoms that worsen during the working week and ease off at weekends or during annual leave. If you’ve noticed your breathing improves when you’re away from work and worsens when you’re back, that pattern is worth taking seriously and worth mentioning to your GP.

Why occupational asthma symptoms can take years to appear

Occupational asthma doesn’t necessarily appear the first week someone starts a job. It’s possible to work with the same substance for years without any issues and then develop symptoms while still doing that job and still being exposed.

Once the airways become sensitised, even small amounts of further exposure can be enough to trigger a reaction. That’s why someone might work safely for years and then suddenly start struggling to breathe on a normal working day, with nothing about the job itself having changed.

Symptoms of work-related asthma would not usually onset years after exposure has ceased altogether, i.e. once you have left your employment.

Why this matters for a personal injury claim

Personal injury claims generally need to be brought within three years. But that three-year clock doesn’t automatically start on the day someone was first exposed to a substance at work.

Instead, it usually starts from the ‘date of knowledge’, the point at which someone first knew, or reasonably ought to have known, that their illness was significant and connected to their work. For occupational asthma and some other industrial diseases, that date is often when an individual first notices symptoms and those symptoms could reasonably be linked back to the person’s work. Therefore, the limitation date is not necessarily the date exposure began, which could have been years earlier.

This is why it’s worth getting advice even if you think it’s too late.

Industries and roles most at risk

Some jobs carry a much higher risk of occupational asthma because of routine exposure to known triggers:

• Bakers and food production workers, exposed to flour and grain dust
• Vehicle spray painters and body shop workers, exposed to isocyanates in paints and coatings
• Joiners, carpenters and woodworkers, exposed to wood dust
• Healthcare workers, exposed to latex and cleaning or sterilising chemicals
• Welders and metalworkers, exposed to metal fumes
• Hairdressers, exposed to persulphate salts in bleaching products

Employers have a legal duty under COSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health) to assess risks, control exposure, and warn staff about hazardous substances. Where that duty hasn’t been met, and it’s led to someone developing occupational asthma, there may be grounds for a claim.

What to do if you suspect you have occupational asthma

• See your GP and mention your job and the substances you work with, not just your symptoms
• Report it at work, whether to your manager, a health and safety representative, or occupational health
• Keep a symptom diary; this can support both diagnosis and your personal injury claim
• Keep records, including medical letters, sick notes, and anything showing what you were exposed to and for how long

How our personal injury lawyers can help

If you’ve developed breathing problems that seem connected to your job, specialist industrial disease solicitors may be able to help.

For an initial conversation with a member of our Personal Injury team, call 0117 325 2929 or fill out our online enquiry form.