By Pamela McGowan

Last updated at 12:18, Friday, 23 July 2010

A retired gas fitter and steel worker died due to heavy exposure to asbestos during his career, an inquest ruled.

Peter William Taylor, aged 68, of Moorfield Bank, Great Broughton, was diagnosed with mesothelioma – a form of lung cancer – in 2009.

He died a year later, on February 13, 2010. A post mortem revealed that the tumour had “virtually obliterated his right lung”.

An inquest heard this week how Mr Taylor – whose 23-year-old son Robert was killed during a fight in Workington town centre in 2005 – had been exposed to asbestos over a prolonged period of time.

Prior to his death, and after being diagnosed, he made a full statement about his work history, which was read out during the hearing.

In it, Mr Taylor said he was involved with the demolition of blast furnaces at Workington steelworks in the 1970s. He described being lowered into the furnaces and using a hammer and pick to break up the bricks and cement.

He said that they didn’t have masks and added: “Asbestos was used when they were built. It was in the cement. “We broke it up and it would go into a dust, we couldn’t avoid breathing it in.”

After leaving the steelworks, Mr Taylor worked as a gas fitter for Northern Gas, now British Gas, where he spent most of his career.

He said a large part of his job was to dig trenches and lay new plastic gas pipes to replace the old ones, which were made from asbestos.

“We used to break them up to get them out. They would make dust, which would go all over my hands and fingers, onto my clothes and into the air,” his statement added.

Mr Taylor, who was married to Sarah Eleanor and had a daughter Susanna, left British Gas in 1994.

He was born in Workington and initially worked down the pit in Siddick. He also served overseas with the Paras.

He retired in 1997 following a brain haemorrhage.

But he wasn’t diagnosed with mesothelioma until early 2009. He went to the doctor in January as he was suffering from a bad cold and coughing up fluid. Tests revealed it was the industrial disease.

North and west Cumbria’s coroner, David Roberts, said: “Mesothelioma is almost always as a result of exposure to asbestos, and the vast majority of cases are a result of exposure in the work place. It’s well recognised that until more recent times, the true dangers of exposure to airborne asbestos were not fully recognised and during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s asbestos was regularly found in the workplace.

“I’m entirely satisfied that Mr Taylor was exposed to asbestos during his working life. My verdict is that he died of industrial disease, namely mesothelioma,” he added.

First published at 11:23, Friday, 23 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk