A man who worked for over 30 years at an ESB power plant in Dublin died as a result of workplace asbestos exposure, Dublin City Coroner's Court has heard.
His widow told the inquest that over the course of his career, William Tiedt (77), of Kilmacud, Dublin, was regularly exposed to asbestos while working at the ESB power plant in Ringsend.
He died as a result of complications arising from this exposure.
Mr Tiedt developed cancerous tumours in his lungs and mesothelioma, a disease caused by asbestos exposure.
Mr Tiedt retired from the ESB 15 years ago. But medical problems arising out of asbestos exposure can remain dormant for up to 40 years and Mr Tiedt may have been damaged by asbestos fibres during the 1960s, Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said. "On the balance of probability your husband's exposure at work to asbestos related to his death many years later."
Ninety to 95 per cent of his tumours were associated to asbestos exposure," he added.
The jury returned a verdict of "death by occupational disease".
Workplace health and safety legislation now exists to protect people from asbestos exposure.
Dr Farrell told the court he would write to the ESB and the Health and Safety authority to inform them of Mr Tiedt's cause of death.