The Government is being urged to introduce a new system so that sick or injured workers can still receive compensation quickly even if their employers go out of business.

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) says a central electronic database is needed to record the insurance details of every company in the country so that even if they cease trading it will still be possible to trace their insurers years later.

APIL says this is vitally important because many industrial diseases can take several years to become apparent. By then the company where the worker contracted the illness may no longer exist so it is difficult to get compensation unless it is possible to trace their insurance company.

The insurance industry is supposed to help trace these insurers as part of a voluntary code drawn up with the Government and the Association of British Insurers, but recently it’s been failing to do so.

Last year, insurers traced only 23% of the policies referred to them in 2004-2005.

It’s four years since the Government insisted the success rate for traces must be improved. Insurance companies have done little about it and APIL believes it’s time they were forced to set up a central database that would be quick and easy to search.

It would work in the same way as the Motor Insurance Database which makes it possible to trace the insurer of a car at the time of an accident just by putting in the registration number.

A similar central database to trace insurance companies in industrial cases would speed the system up and get help more quickly to those who desperately need it.

In spite of the difficulties it is possible for victims of industrial diseases to bring a successful claim. Please contact us for more information if you or a family member have been affected in any way.