If you worked at the aircraft factories in Preston, Warton or Samlesbury, or crossed the border to the wing factory at Broughton, and now live with hearing loss, tinnitus or a diagnosed lung condition, you may be able to bring an industrial disease claim. Riveting, engine test beds and busy machine shops exposed generations of Lancashire’s aerospace workforce to noise well above today’s safe limits, while asbestos was used in aircraft brake linings, engine bay insulation, gaskets and the factory buildings themselves. Many former sheet metal workers, fitters, machinists and sprayers are only now discovering that industrial deafness or an asbestos-related disease traces back to work done decades ago. Time limits are more flexible than people assume, and claims are pursued against the employer’s insurer, not the individual or the site. WE Solicitors acts for industrial disease clients across Lancashire on a no win, no fee basis, with a free initial assessment on 0800 294 3065.
Lancashire’s role in British aircraft manufacture goes back further than most people realise. Preston’s Strand Road works turned to aircraft production during the First World War, building seaplane hulls to Admiralty designs, and stayed connected to aviation manufacturing for most of the twentieth century. A few miles away, Samlesbury Aerodrome was first proposed as a municipal airfield in 1922, but construction only began in April 1939 and was fast-tracked once war broke out. It turned out bombers throughout the Second World War. Warton airfield, close by, grew into a major aerospace production and flight test site over the same period, and after the war Lancashire’s aircraft factories moved on to jet aircraft and, later, components for supersonic and multi-role combat aircraft, work that continued at both Samlesbury and Warton for decades. Some Lancashire families also had members who travelled to the wing factory at Broughton in Flintshire, just across the Welsh border near Chester, built as a shadow factory at the start of the Second World War. At its peak it employed around 6,000 workers, more than half of them women, turning out bombers around the clock.
Why did aerospace work cause hearing loss for Preston, Warton and Samlesbury workers?
Aircraft manufacturing was, and in many processes still is, one of the loudest environments in industry. Riveting sheet aluminium panels together, a core process in building fuselages and wings, produces sharp, repetitive impact noise that regularly exceeded safe levels on factory floors at Preston, Warton and Samlesbury. Engine test beds, where completed engines were run at full power to check performance before an aircraft left the factory, generated some of the highest noise levels in the whole industry, often for hours at a time. Machine shops full of lathes, presses and metal-cutting equipment added a constant background roar, and paint and sealant spraying bays brought further noise from compressors and extraction fans. Employers had a general duty to protect workers’ health under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, and from 1989 the Noise at Work Regulations 1989 set specific limits, tightened further by the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, which set a lower exposure action value of 80 dB(A) and an upper exposure action value of 85 dB(A). The 1963 Ministry of Labour booklet ‘Noise and the Worker’ is generally treated as the point from which employers should have known about the risk of hearing damage from workplace noise, which matters when a claim is assessed. Riveters, fitters, engine test crews and machine shop workers are among those who most commonly bring an aerospace workers hearing loss claim today.
What aircraft factory asbestos exposure risks did workers face at Preston, Warton and Samlesbury?
Asbestos exposure in aircraft factories came from several directions at once. It was used in aircraft brake linings and clutch friction materials because of its heat resistance, in gaskets and seals throughout engines and hydraulic systems, and in heat shields and lagging used to insulate engine bays and ducting from extreme temperatures. HSE guidance confirms that asbestos-containing gaskets, brake linings and lagging were standard in industrial plant and machinery for most of the twentieth century, and that lagging in particular is one of the most dangerous materials to disturb. On top of exposure from the aircraft themselves, the factory buildings, hangars and workshops at Preston, Warton and Samlesbury, like most large industrial buildings of the era, commonly used asbestos insulation board, sprayed coatings and asbestos cement sheeting in their construction. Sheet metal workers, fitters, riveters and maintenance staff working near brake assembly, engine overhaul or lagging repair were all at risk, often without being told what the material was. Because blue and brown asbestos were not banned until 1985 and white asbestos not until 1999, and because HSE guidance is to treat any building built or refurbished before 2000 with caution, workers at Lancashire’s aerospace sites right through to the late twentieth century could have been exposed. This is why asbestos claims from Preston and the Fylde often relate to buildings and processes far removed from what most people picture as a typical factory job.
- Sheet metal workers and riveters: hand-arm noise, hearing loss risk, and asbestos brake and lagging materials nearby
- Fitters and machinists: machine shop noise plus gaskets, seals and insulation containing asbestos
- Engine test crews: some of the highest recorded noise levels in the industry, plus asbestos heat shields and lagging around engine bays
- Sprayers: solvent and paint exposure linked to occupational asthma and dermatitis, alongside general factory noise
- Maintenance and building services staff: asbestos insulation board, lagging and sprayed coatings in hangars and factory buildings
Can I still make an industrial disease claim years after leaving Lancashire’s aerospace industry?
Yes. The usual three-year time limit under the Limitation Act 1980 runs from your ‘date of knowledge’, normally the date you were diagnosed or told your condition was work-related, not the date you left the aerospace industry (Limitation Act 1980, section 11). This is why people who worked at Preston, Warton or Samlesbury in the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s can still bring a claim today if they were only recently diagnosed with noise-induced hearing loss, asbestosis, pleural thickening or mesothelioma. For fatal cases, such as death from mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer, the three years runs from the date of death. Claims are made against the employer’s liability insurer that was in place at the time of exposure, not against the individual company, which means a claim can usually proceed even if the original employer has since closed, merged or changed hands many times over. The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office helps trace historic insurance policies, dissolved companies can be restored to the register specifically to allow a claim to proceed, and where no insurer can be traced at all, mesothelioma claims may be met through the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme, established under the Mesothelioma Act 2014. Some older industrial deafness and pneumoconiosis-type cases may also qualify for a lump sum under the Pneumoconiosis etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979, separate from a civil claim. Industrial deafness claims from Lancashire very often come from people who never connected their hearing loss to a job they left decades ago.
Conditions linked to aerospace and aircraft factory work
| Condition | What it is | Typically appears | Claimable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noise-induced hearing loss (industrial deafness) | Permanent damage to the inner ear’s hair cells from prolonged loud noise | Gradually over years of exposure, or found on a hearing test | Yes, if linked to noise at work |
| Tinnitus / acoustic shock | Ringing, buzzing or hissing in the ears, sometimes from a single loud incident | After years of noise exposure, or after one acute event | Yes, alongside or separate from a hearing loss claim |
| Asbestosis | Scarring of the lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibres | Typically 15 to 30 years after exposure | Yes |
| Pleural thickening | Thickening of the lung lining, which can restrict breathing | Often 20 to 40 years after exposure | Yes |
| Mesothelioma | An aggressive cancer of the lining of the lung or abdomen, caused by asbestos | Usually 20 to 50 years after exposure | Yes, including via the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme if no insurer is traced |
| Asbestos-related lung cancer | Lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure, in smokers and non-smokers alike | Often decades after exposure | Yes, subject to medical evidence linking it to asbestos |
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What did work actually involve at Preston, Warton, Samlesbury and Broughton?
Trades varied across the sites but many followed people for their whole working lives. Sheet metal workers cut, formed and joined aluminium panels for fuselages and wings. Riveters worked in close pairs, one holding a bucking bar against the inside of the panel while the other drove rivets with a pneumatic gun, a process that put both workers directly in the noise. Fitters assembled and fitted components, machinists ran lathes, milling machines and presses in busy machine shops, and sprayers applied paint, primers and sealants, often in confined booths with limited ventilation. Engine test crews ran completed engines at full power on outdoor or semi-enclosed test beds, some of the loudest work in the entire industry. Many of these trades also brought people into contact with solvents and paints that could cause occupational asthma or skin conditions such as dermatitis, alongside the noise and asbestos risks already described. For people who did this work at Preston, Warton or Samlesbury from the 1950s onwards, a hearing loss claim often turns on exactly this kind of detailed work history, so it helps to write down as much as you remember about your job, your employer and roughly which years you worked there.
Lancashire and Broughton aerospace sites: what was built and when
| Site | Established | What was built | Peak workforce era |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preston (Strand Road) | Aircraft work began 1917 | Seaplane hulls, then decades of aircraft components and sub-assemblies | Early to mid twentieth century |
| Samlesbury | Construction began 1939 | Bombers in wartime, later jet aircraft and combat aircraft components | Wartime and post-war decades |
| Warton | Developed from the 1940s | Aerospace production, flight test and later combat aircraft work | Post-war through to the present |
| Broughton (Flintshire, near Chester) | Built as a shadow factory in 1939 to 1940 | Wellington bombers in wartime and, in the modern era, airliner wings | Around 6,000 workers at wartime peak |
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“People often tell us they never made the connection between the noise on the factory floor at Preston, Warton or Samlesbury and the hearing loss they live with now. It’s one of the most common industrial disease claims we see from Lancashire’s aerospace workforce, and in most cases it costs nothing to find out where you stand.”
Frequently asked questions
Can I claim if the aircraft factory I worked at has closed or changed hands?
Yes. Claims are brought against the employer’s liability insurer that covered your workplace at the time, not against whoever owns the site now. The Employers’ Liability Tracing Office can help trace historic policies, and a dissolved company can be restored to the register specifically so a claim can proceed.
How long do I have to make a hearing loss or asbestos claim?
Usually three years from your ‘date of knowledge’, normally the date you were diagnosed or told your condition was work-related, not the date you left the aerospace industry. For fatal asbestos-related disease, the three years runs from the date of death (Limitation Act 1980, section 11).
What compensation could I receive for industrial deafness?
Compensation depends on the severity of your hearing loss, its effect on your daily life, and your medical evidence, and is usually assessed against the relevant Judicial College Guidelines bracket. We can only give you a realistic range once we have seen your medical evidence.
I worked at Broughton, not in Lancashire itself. Can WE Solicitors still help?
Yes. Many people from Lancashire and Cheshire travelled across the border to work at the wing factory at Broughton in Flintshire, and the same noise and asbestos exposure principles, and the same three-year time limit rules, apply regardless of which side of the border the factory sat on.
What if I do not know exactly which years I worked there or who my employer was?
That is very common with claims going back decades. We can help piece together your work history using National Insurance records, old payslips, union records and colleagues’ recollections, alongside the tracing services available for old employers’ liability insurance.
Does it matter if I also smoked, when claiming for asbestos-related lung cancer?
Smoking history is taken into account in the medical evidence, but it does not automatically rule out a claim. Asbestos and smoking can both contribute to lung cancer, and specialist medical evidence is used to establish the asbestos-related element of your case.
Will making a claim cost me anything?
No. WE Solicitors acts on a no win, no fee basis for industrial disease claims, and offers a free initial assessment so you can find out where you stand before deciding whether to proceed.
What is the difference between asbestosis, pleural thickening and mesothelioma?
Asbestosis is scarring of the lung tissue that can cause breathlessness, pleural thickening is a thickening of the lung lining that can restrict breathing, and mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer of the lung or abdominal lining. All are caused by inhaling asbestos fibres and can appear decades after exposure at an aerospace site.
Speak to a specialist industrial disease solicitor for Lancashire’s aerospace workforce
WE Solicitors has represented people across the North West with noise-induced hearing loss and asbestos-related disease for more than two decades, including workers from Lancashire’s engineering and manufacturing trades. As members of APIL (the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) and the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association, we act no win, no fee and assess every enquiry free of charge. If your work involved riveting, engine testing, machine shop work or spraying, or if you handled brake components, gaskets or insulation, our hearing loss claims and asbestos disease claims teams can talk you through your options in plain English, with no obligation.
WE Solicitors LLP is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 445359. We are members of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association.
Sources
The figures and legal references on this page come from the following authorities, checked at the time of publication.
- HSE, Asbestos-related disease statistics, Great Britain (PDF), 2026. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/assets/docs/asbestos-related-disease.pdf
- HSE, Noise induced hearing loss in Great Britain, statistics, 2026. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/deafness/index.htm
- HSE, Work-related ill health and occupational disease statistics, overview, 2026. https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/overview.htm
- HSE, Locations of asbestos and taking the right action. https://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/location-materials.htm
- Legislation.gov.uk, The Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/1643). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/1643/contents/made
- Legislation.gov.uk, Limitation Act 1980, section 11. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/58/section/11
- Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History, the Strand Road works, Preston (aircraft manufacture from 1917). https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Dick,_Kerr_and_Co
- Chester Standard, Broughton wing factory: Wellington bomber production and wartime workforce, 2023. https://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/leisure/features/16235539.remembering-day-broughtons-workers-built-plane-24-hours/
- GOV.UK, Mesothelioma and asbestosis mortality in Great Britain 1968 to 2024, statistics release, July 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mesothelioma-and-asbestosis-mortality-in-great-britain-1968-to-2024
