A Painswick man died last year as a direct result of working at the Gloucester Railway Carriage and

Added (2009-Mar-16)

A Painswick man died last year as a direct result of working at the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Works in the 50s and 60s, a coroner ruled.

An inquest, at which a verdict of death by industrial disease was given, heard that blue asbestos was routinely used to insulate wagons and carriages in the factory during the time Anthony Manton, 66, worked there.

Forty-five years later he contracted mesothelioma – a form of lung cancer caused by asbestos – and died at his home in Upper Washwell, last year on August 6.

In a statement he made in May last year he recalled he had worked at the wagon works from late 1956 or early 1957. He was a welder and assembler building the steelwork sides of carriages and wagons. He finished work there in May, 1962.

Mr Manton said he worked only fifty yards from where blue asbestos was routinely sprayed onto carriages with a large hose. Spraying was a constant process, he said.

"It was a dusty environment generally. It was called the cowshed area and I worked in it for three and a half years.

"I believe I would have been exposed to asbestos throughout the time I worked there – apart from perhaps the last few months."

He said a man he had worked with had died from mesothelioma 10-12 years ago.

Pathologist Professor Neil Shepherd said analysis of Mr Manton's lung tissue found a 'significant' 250,000 asbestos fibres per gram.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore said "This is a disease which has an inevitable outcome, usually over a very short period of time. It was a high reading of mineral fibres and I am satisfied that this malignant mesothelioma


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In the 1970's it was recognised that vibrating industrial power tools could cause Vibration White Finger Syndrome.
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