A Derby man who had been exposed to deadly asbestos over a number of years during his early professional life died moments after arriving at the Royal Derby Hospital. The deadly substance, often found in old buildings, had caused him a number of serious health problems.
Henry Evans Gibson, 72, was a retired plasterer when he arrived at the Royal Derby Hospital’s Accident passed and Emergency department on Thursday, November 11, 2021. It was shortly after he arrived in the department that Mr Gibson away from a combination of pneumonia, asbestosis in the lung, and heart disease.
An inquest into Mr Gibson’s death, held at Chesterfield Coroners Court, heard that the former plasterer had been unwell for some time and had been getting treatment from a number of departments at the Royal Derby Hospital.
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In a statement read out at the hearing, Mr Bill Gibson, brother of Henry Gibson, known widely as Harry, confirmed that his sibling worked with asbestos in his late teens and early twenties when he stripped the mineral from roofs.
He also confirmed that during his work, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, his father didn’t wear any form of personal protective equipment, the name of the company Mr Gibson worked for during this time wasn’t released during the inquest.
After finishing that job, Mr. Gibson, who lived on Franchise Street in Derby prior to his death, then went on to work at the Ford company and then finished his professional life as a plasterer.
During his time working for the Ford company, Mr. Gibson moved away from Derbyshire to Swindon, however, he returned to his home county in the last decade of his life. Concluding the inquest, assistant coroner Ms Louise Pinder, ruled that Mr. Gibson had died as a result of industrial disease.
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