A former railway worker from Derby has died of an industrial disease.
Harry Roome, who was 83-years-old, died in July this year after a long illness and trouble breathing.
Mr Roome had spent 27 years working with asbestos at the Derby Litchurch Lane Works. He was exposed to asbestos when it was sprayed on the carriages to shield them from the weather conditions, telling his family that the asbestos particles “covered the whole place like snow”.
Mr Roome worked as a cook in the navy for a short time between 1948 and 1955. He wasn’t exposed to asbestos during this time, however after leaving, he went back to work at British Rail until 1966.
After leaving the rail industry, Mr Roome started work in the building trade, demolishing and redeveloping council houses.
Derby and South Derbyshire Coroner’s court was told how Mr Roome came into contact with asbestos in this line of work too, with his son, Terence, explaining how his father was very hands-on throughout his career, and would have inhaled asbestos particles daily.
“No-one knew then just how dangerous it was”, Terence said. “There were no health and safety rules back then.
“Everyone around will have just been breathing it in day after day without realising.”
Dr Andrew Hitchcock, who carried out the post-mortem examination on Mr Roome, said: “I could see the particles of asbestos in the lung tissue of Mr Roome without doing any of the special tests we normally carry out. There was well-established infection in Mr Roome’s airways and a tumour in his lungs.
“This will have had an incredibly detrimental effect on Mr Roome and he would he struggled to breath properly.”
Deputy coroner Louise Pinder concluded that Mr Roome died as a result of an industrial disease.