A MAINTENANCE expert responsible for the upkeep of several East Lancashire hospitals was slowly poisoned by asbestos as he repaired wards and theatres, an inquest heard.

For years John Swales split his time between Burnley General, nearby Victoria Hospital and infirmaries in Nelson and Colne, Burnley Coroner’s Court was told.

And his widow Audrey, from Worsthorne, recalled how he would often return home covered from head to toe in dust.

East Lancs coroner Richard Taylor, reading from Mrs Swales’ statement, recalled one incident where he had been forced to carry out emergency repairs to the recovery room at Burnley General. “He came absolutely covered in dust and said that the recovery room ceiling had collap-sed and he was holding it up with poles while they got the patients out,” she said.

“It was awful because the ceiling was all made of asbestos. He would always complain about the lagging, particularly at some of the older hospitals like the Victoria, Hartley and Reedyford.”

The inquest heard that Mr Swales, 79, who latterly lived at the Taylor Street nursing home in Burnley, was first employed by the hospitals in 1965.

He underwent tests for possible asbestos infection several years ago but it was only when a post-mortem examination was carried out, after his death on April 8, that the extent of his problem emerged.

Consultant pathologist Dr Zuhir Twage said internal examinations showed that Mr Swales had around eight million particles of asbestos fibres in his lungs at the time of his death.

Normally people would carry around one million with them through day-to-day living so eight million was considered a high amount, added Dr Twage.

Recording an industrial disease verdict, coroner Mr Taylor said there could be no doubt that asbestos had contributed to Mr Swales’s death.