Capper Pass Claims Review Scheme - all claims determined

The investigations under the Capper Pass Claims Review Scheme, set up in 2002 to deal with claims from former employees, residents and their families relating to the tin smelting plant on North Humberside, UK, which operated from the mid 1930s until its closure in 1991, are near to completion.

All the claimants by now should have been advised by their solicitor of the determination of their claims by the independent review board

In total, 664 claimants lodged 1,788 individual claims for a wide variety of different medical conditions.

The claims of 29 male employee for lung cancer and nine male employee claims for the non malignant respiratory condition of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been awarded compensation in final settlement of their claims. Total compensation for the lung cancer claims was £3.2 million and for the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease claims £144,000.

The review board rejected all the remaining 1,750 individual compensation claims, including all claims from local residents.

The extensive investigations by the review board were both exhaustive and authoritative. In addition, much of the critical evidence on potential health risks to former employees of Capper Pass has been published in the scientific journal Occupational Medicine over the last three years, the key findings of which were:

The overall death rate for former employees at Capper Pass was no different from normal, with detailed findings showing a higher risk for lung cancer but for no other medical condition.
The higher than expected deaths from lung cancer can best be explained by the combined effects of arsenic exposure from the plant and an above average proportion of smokers within the workforce.

Rio Tinto is confident that any health risks associated with the former smelter have now been thoroughly investigated. In addition, it is likely that few, if any, of the claims would have been successful had the cases gone to court.

Throughout the investigations, Rio Tinto has endeavoured to keep as many former employees of Capper Pass and their families as possible advised of the developments and findings. Communications from the review board to claimants have been made through their solicitor.