Case Report
Occupational Exposure to Asbestos: Mortality and Liability Issues Arising in Hong Kongs Shipping Industry
Rohan Price1* and Jack Burke21Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania and Visiting Professor, School of Law, Dalian Maritime University, China
2Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Law, City University of Hong Kong, China
- *Corresponding Author:
- Rohan Price
Research Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Tasmania
Private Bag 89, Hobart, TAS, Australia
Tel: 613 6226 2064
E-mail: rohan.price@utas.edu.au
Received Date: December 15, 2011; Accepted Date: February 08, 2012; Published Date: February 10, 2012
Citation: Price R, Burke J (2012) Occupational Exposure to Asbestos: Mortality and Liability Issues Arising in Hong Kong’s Shipping Industry. Air Water Borne Diseases 1:101. doi:10.4172/2167-7719.1000101
Copyright: © 2012 Price R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
This article evaluates a range of legal responses to issues of causation and compensation arising out of occupational malignant mesothelioma claims. A survey of the common law in the United Kingdom leads to an assessment of the law and policy settings which Hong Kong should adopt in relation to these issues. It is argued that Hong Kong is underprepared for the steep rise of asbestos-related litigation on the way to its shores and that the absence in Hong Kong of local common law on mesothelioma liability means that it will draw on English approaches which are, themselves, unsatisfactory and unsuitable to local conditions. In particular, is argued that (1) the high sympathy culture toward patients in Hong Kong’s healthcare system and (2) the high level of personal and corporate bankruptcy mean that stringent English compensation approaches to mesothelioma in cases of pre-cursor conditions and multiple employer apportionment of liability (respectively) are not a good fit for Hong Kong.
