AN 82-YEAR-OLD former joiner and maintenance worker was exposed to asbestos for 15 years and died as a result in September of last year, an inquest heard.

Barry Harris of Daniels Road, Stroud was given no protective clothing or equipment from 1955-1970 when he would frequently return from work covered in a white dust, which was asbestos, his daughter Angela Watt told Gloucestershire Coroners Court on Wednesday.

“My father’s breathing deteriorated and he started to become extremely breathless,” she said in a statement.

She visited her father every day in Gloucestershire Royal Hospital where he was admitted in August of last year suffering from pneumonia, she said.

Palliative care commenced on August 20 and Mr Harris died on September 1, 2018, the inquest heard.

A post mortem revealed significant fibrosis of the lungs “in keeping with exposure to asbestos.”

In summary, assistant coroner for Gloucestershire Caroline Saunders said that the primary cause of death was exposure to asbestos.

CONCLUSION: Industrial Disease.