Case study 3: 'Asbestos dust is like nuclear fall-out'

Published on Tuesday 12 April 2011 18:19

Robert Adams, 72, of Knightswood, Glasgow, was a joiner all his working life in the Clyde shipyards. He was diagnosed with pleural plaques three years ago.

He said: "I first started noticing a problem when I had a bad cough and a bad cold.

"I thought it was just flu but the doctors took X-rays and it was discovered I had pleural plaques.

"Since my diagnosis, I've been up and down. It gets bad in the winter, summers are good, but I can't get up many hills easily. I have to stop and start."

Mr Adams said that he and his fellow joiners had cut asbestos boards by hand, even though his employers knew of the dangers.

He said: "They stopped cutting the stuff with buzz saws and gave us a small blade and told us not to kick up the dust. But you still weren't allowed to leave where you were working for breaks."

He said that he had recently been forced to give up his lifelong hobby of playing the bagpipes, as it left him fighting for his breath.

"I now fear every time I get a cough that it's been activated again, because pleural plaques can start again and get bigger," he said.