This depends on what country you come from. In the UK you can make a claim in common law against your employer. For this to be successful you must show that you have been damaged (i.e. have occupational asthma), that this is caused by the person you are sueing, and that they have been negligent "in the light of current knowledge and practice", i.e. the knowledge that a reasonable employer should have had at the time of the proposed negligence, and finally that the negligence has caused the damage. All this is quite complicated and requires a solicitor skilled in this type of claim. If the problem occured in an aluminium potroom there is a substantial literature on this problem. The literature on smelting aluminium slabs is much less, but alumium fluoride is often added to the melt for drossing off, this is the same material probably responsible for potroom asthma. In the UK you could also claim under the industrial injuries sceme from the DWP. This is much simpler, but only applies to occupational asthma due to sensitisation. Aluminium is not on the list of prescribed causes, but should be compensated in the "any other agent" category.
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