HEALTH issues prompted by years of working in proximity to asbestos led to a man’s death, a coroner has ruled.
An inquest heard that Peter Bougourd had spent nine years as a government employee based at the incinerator at Bellozanne in a dusty and hot environment where workers would often be required to remove build-ups of ash that had clogged the equipment.
A former colleague of Mr Bougourd, who died last December, said staff at the facility operated by the Resources Recovery Board were given masks and gloves, but that there was no policy about whether these needed to be worn.
Workers at the plant would also be required to work on blocked pipes by spraying them with water to soften accumulated asbestos before chipping it off, the former colleague added in his statement.
Matthew Bougourd, attending his father’s inquest, told the hearing that: “We didn’t know then what we know now.”
The inquest at Morier House in St Helier also heard that prior to his time based at Bellozanne between 1979 and 1988, Mr Bougourd was employed by the Jersey Electricity Company for four years, with his work as a turbine and boiler engineer also bringing him into contact with asbestos.
Coroner’s officer Andy Prentice said Mr Bougourd had been pronounced dead at his home in St Helier on 30 December last year after being found unconscious and struggling to breathe, with attending paramedics stopping his care after confirmation that a directive not to attempt resuscitation was in place.
The inquest heard that Mr Bougourd had suffered escalating health problems in recent years, particularly during the last year of his life when he had dozens of appointments and reviews with clinicians, with angina and breathing problems becoming increasingly serious.
Dr Deryn Evans, sitting as coroner, found that Mr Bougourd had died of end-stage pulmonary fibrosis due to industrial asbestos exposure, with ischemic heart disease cited as a contributory factor. She expressed her condolences to the family.
