Published at 08:49, Friday, 09 September 2011

A Carlisle plumber wrote a disturbing account of how, during his early working life, he was routinely exposed to the asbestos dust which ultimately caused his death.

David Irwin was just 60 when he died in July after contracting the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma. He is the latest in a growing number of Cumbrians who have died because they were exposed to the deadly material.

Recalling his work on a council estate in Woodhouse, Whitehaven, he wrote: “We were on site for three to four weeks, repairing and replacing [asbestos] gutters and downspouts.

“We used a handsaw to cut down damaged or broken gutters and replaced them.

“I could not escape the dust. There was dust on my hands as we handled them and when we collected broken pieces and swept up.”

At other times, he said, he was asked to remove large amounts of asbestos lagging from school boilers.

“It was a very dirty and dusty job, and the dust used to get everywhere, all over my boiler suit and my hair.”

As an apprentice in the sixties, it was his job to sweep up the asbestos dust, he said.

Workers were never given masks or asked to dampen down the dust.

Experts say that there has been a steady increase in asbestos-related deaths across the western world – the legacy of a time when workers were unaware of the risks they ran.

Every year, around 4,000 people in the UK die as a result of asbestos-related illness. In Cumbria, asbestos has been blamed for 363 deaths since 1985 – and the toll is rising every year.

Mr Irwin’s inquest came just days before the launch of a national campaign to raise awareness of the deadly risks posed by the material.

At the Carlisle hearing, north and west Cumbria coroner David Roberts heard a detailed personal statement by Mr Irwin, who died on July 18.

He told how, in 1965, he started training as a plumber with a firm called Thomson (heating and ventilation) Limited, working throughout Cumbria on public buildings, including schools, hospitals, colleges, and council-owned housing estates.

He worked for the firm and its successor – Robert Batey & Co – until 1979.

Over those 14 years, said his statement, he regularly worked with asbestos, remaining oblivious to the risk.

Mr Irwin’s widow Joan, who lived with him in London Road, Carlisle, said he was diagnosed with mesothelioma just over a year before his death.

Having seen a friend die from the illness, he was determined not to suffer in the same way, she said. The couple made several trips to Germany for specialist treatment, which helped.

Mr Roberts recorded a verdict that Mr Irwin died as a result of an industrial disease, caused by his exposure to asbestos dust.

He said: “In the 1960s, 70s, and probably the 80s to some extent, asbestos was used widely and dealt with in ways which would not now be considered safe or acceptable.”

Dr Paul Dyson, a non-surgical consultant cancer specialist at the Cumberland Infirmary in Carlisle, said: “This is a rare cancer but it’s on the increase and is expected to reach a peak within the next few years.

“Nowadays, there are strict regulations and people have to have a specialist licence to work with asbestos.”

Carlisle campaigner Willie Whalen, chairman of the TUC’s Northern Health and Safety Forum, said he has known around 100 people who died as a result of exposure to asbestos.

Plumbers, joiners, and electricians are thought to be particularly at risk. Cumbria’s death rates from mesothelioma have increased steadily over recent years, with 115 fatalities in the four years to 2005.

Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk