The government is still considering whether to appeal last month’s European court judgment that ordered it to pay €226,000 in compensation to 19 dockyard workers poisoned by asbestos.

The European Court of Human Rights found the government “knew or ought to have known of the dangers arising from exposure to asbestos at least as from the early 1970s”.

A judgment handed down by seven judges, including former Chief Justice Vincent de Gaetano, said the former workers, whose rights to life and respect for private and family life were violated, should be compensated.

The Maltese authorities have to file an appeal before the court’s Grand Chamber within three months or the judgment becomes final.

A Justice Ministry spokesman said “it would not be prudent to take a definitive position” for legal reasons since the three-month period was still open.

“The judgment contains an interpretation of some requirements of the convention [of European Rights] which is contentious,” the spokesman said.

However, “from a policy and a humanitarian point of view, the government has always shown full sympathy with workers who fall victim to work-related illnesses”.

Led by lawyer Juliette Galea, the 18 workers and relatives of a man who died in 2009 from mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by asbestos, have been fighting their legal battle for the past five years. Another two of the men died in the past 12 months.

The European court said the men had not been given adequate safeguards against the dangers of asbestos, either through protective clothing or information, between the 1950s and the early 2000s when they stopped working.

Particles of the mineral fibre in the air during repairs were inhaled and settled on the men’s clothing, also affecting their families, and the former workers suffered respiratory problems and plaques, which are areas of calcification in the lungs.

The symptoms of mesothelioma or asbestosis – irreversible lung scarring – do not show up until many years after the initial exposure.