A RETIRED builder detailed his work history in a written statement days before his death to help investigators work out what caused his disease.
Norman Lea, of Broadlands Way, Taunton, died aged 79 from malignant mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos, at St Margaret's Hospice on April 2 this year.
An inquest in Taunton on Thursday (May 26) heard that Mr Lea contacted a solicitor after being told he possible had the disease and then prepared a statement.
In it he outlined how he joined his father's firm in Middlesex more than 50 years previously, where he oversaw general oeprations, dealing with the installation of asbestos sheets for heaters.
He wrote that he worked alongside colleagues doing the same work and there was regularly asbestos dust in the area, getting in his hair and on his clothes as no protective gear or training was provided.
Tony Williams, senior coroner for Somerset, concluded that Mr Lea died of an industrial disease.
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