A “true gentleman” died after noticing a "persistent" cough began causing him pain.
Brian Howard ran a popular independent bookshop died decades after breathing in asbestos while working as an electrician surrounded by the “dust” without respiratory protection.
Brian Howard, of Runcorn, was admitted to Warrington Hospital on Christmas Eve 2021 after a persistent cough he had lived with for three decades became “continuous and painful”. An inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court on Thursday heard Brian died on January 1, 2022, aged 82, decades after he retired from his career with industrial giants ICI in Runcorn.
Heath Westerman, assistant coroner for Cheshire, read a statement from Brian’s family in which they said Brian began as an apprentice with ICI in 1954, training and working as an electrician for 36 years.
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His role involved maintenance and repairs across the “large factory” site, including boilers and a power station.
Mr Westerman read evidence from a colleague of Brian’s who said the boilers in the power station were insulated with asbestos and fitted with parts that had to be replaced when they stopped working. Insulation was “replaced by hand with no respiratory protective equipment” and the material was cut to size on site, meaning the “fibres could be seen in the air whenever you entered”.
After returning home to his family after work, Brian would comment on how “messy” it was and he didn’t like going “because the air was full of dust”.
The inquest heard how during his job he also worked in a rotary bleach plant insulated with asbestos, as well as on the construction of a “cell room K-unit” in a caustic plant. He was first diagnosed with asbestos plaques in his early 40s and was told there was no treatment.
For more than 30 years he lived with a persistent cough, which “became much worse” in 2020, ultimately turning “continuous and painful” on December 23, 2021.
His family were “unable to get an appointment with a doctor”, and Brian was admitted to hospital the next day. He died on January 1, 2022.
A statement from Brian’s GP Dr Sree Vignesh said Brian’s medical history included asbestos exposure from when he worked at ICI and pleural plaques on his lungs. Dr Cheng Li, pathologist, found evidence of asbestos exposure although there were “limitations” in identifying asbestos under the microscope.
Dr Li identified “pleural plaques and pulmonary fibrosis consistent with asbestosis”. Cause of death was given as cardiac respiratory failure, contributed to by heart problems, pneumonia, asbestosis and fatty liver disease.
Mr Westerman recorded a narrative conclusion consistent with the pathologist, adding the asbestos condition was caused “by his exposure to asbestos fibres during the course of his occupation”.
His cause of death was recorded as being due to “natural causes, contributed to in part by industrial disease”.
Brian and his wife Liz owned and ran The Curiosity Bookshop in High Street in Runcorn.
Following the loss of Brian last year, his wife Liz said that when she initially opened the store in 1990, Brian initially agreed to help with the accounts but didn’t want to serve customers.
After realising it was “was easier and more pleasant” than working at ICI, he took early retirement to join Liz full time in the shop.
The shop is still open but is now run by their son Chris.
Brian loved to travel, as well as being out in the garden. Liz said he “liked nothing more than to sit by his fishpond with a glass of wine as the sun set over the village”.
His working life spanned 36 years at ICI and nearly 30 years in the bookshop, before retiring on his 80th birthday.
Hundreds of cards and online tributes poured in following his death, with residents remembering Brian as a “ true gentleman” and “lovely man” who was always “helpful” as well as having a “wonderful family”.
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