Dorchester inquest reveals former boiler engineer died of asbestos exposure (From Dorset Echo)

Dorchester inquest reveals former boiler engineer died of asbestos exposure

5:30pm Saturday 15th September 2012 in News

A FORMER boiler service engineer died after being exposed to asbestos, an inquest was told.

Andrew Paul Nicholson died on August 1 at the Joseph Weld Hospice.

Evidence was heard that the 65-year-old had suffered from mesothelioma, a type of cancer attributed to asbestos exposure. At the hearing at County Hall in Dorchester a statement was read, made by Mr Nicholson before he died, describing how he had worked for various companies in the Bridport and Wimborne areas after leaving school aged 16 until becoming self-employed in 1993.

He had been exposed to the material through his work servicing boilers and cookers, he said. West Dorset coroner Michael Johnston recorded that Mr Nicholson, of Tunnel Road, Beaminster, died of an industrial disease due to exposure to asbestos.

Mr Johnston said: “There is evidence of exposure to asbestos and Mr Nicholson has described working with boilers and servicing them, removing asbestos and even replacing asbestos, all of which would immediately ring alarm bells today.”