‘Ignorance is not an option’: Family claims companies caused father’s slow asbestos death

The family of a “loyal and generous” man claim he died before he could finish his legal fight against the companies responsible for his death. Now they are keeping up the fight.

The daughter of a man killed by deadly asbestos poisoning says her family was forced to watch her “loyal and generous” father slowly die.

Ian Fitzsimmons, 78, died in March after a years-long battle with illnesses his family claim were the result of his years working with the fatal fibre as a carpenter and joiner at EJ Vibert’s Timber Yard in the 1960s and ’70s.

He started a legal fight against the now insolvent construction company, where he started working as a teenager, as well as former asbestos manufacturer James Hardie and Coy, now known as Amaca.

Mr Fitzsimmons died before his case made it to trial, but his daughter Tracy, and sons Dale and Shane, are carrying on his legal fight for damages and costs that mounted as a result of his medical care.

In documents filed in the Supreme Court, the siblings allege their father died because the companies did not protect him from ingesting asbestos by giving him PPE and did not warn him about how dangerous the mineral was.

Asbestos victim Ian Fitzsimmons died in March before finishing his legal fight against the companies his children claim exposed him to the dangerous dust. Picture: Supplied

Tracy Fitzsimmons told the Sunday Herald Sun her father felt “trapped” in his home in the lead-up to his death because he had to be constantly connected to an oxygen supply, with portable tanks only providing enough oxygen to leave the house for just hours each month.

“The hardest part was watching someone you love struggle to breathe,” she said.

“I thought we could get him better, there has to be something that can fix him, no that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t remember feeling any different when we found out the cause of his condition besides the continued frustration of hearing “there’s nothing we can do, this will eventually kill you”.

Mr Fitzsimmons had trouble breathing for several years before he was officially diagnosed with pleural thickening, when scar tissue thickens the lining around the lungs.

He also suffered from pleural effusions, a build-up of fluid between the layers of tissue that line the lungs and chest cavity and haemothoraces – an accumulation of blood within the plural cavity.

James Hardie and Coy was a manufacturer that supplied asbestos cement sheets in the 60s and 70s across Victoria, including to Vibert’s, where Mr Fitzsimmons worked.

Ian Fitzsimmons had trouble breathing for several years before he was officially diagnosed with pleural thickening. Picture: Supplied

From 1962 to 1971, he was a cabinet maker and joiner, before installing oil heaters for the company across Shepparton, which required him to cut into and clean up the asbestos-filled sheet.

Mr Fitzsimmons’ children claim this was how he was exposed to the dangerous dust, and as a result, both companies should have known he would have been at risk of developing lung disease.

These allegations against James Hardie and Coy are the latest in a string of multimillion-dollar payouts and claims levelled against the former asbestos manufacturer, which in June was also forced to pay more than $1.2m to a 77-year-old Queensland man who was diagnosed with deadly asbestos diseases.

The company has fronted up funds for a $4bn compensation fund since the early 2000s because there were so many workers who became sick or died as a result of their exposure to deadly dust.

Many recipients received between $500,000 and several million dollars before their deaths.

Tracy remembered her father as a family man and sports fanatic who loved cricket, football and lawn bowls.

He loved his family and had a special bond with his grandson Bailey who was his carer for the last six years of his life,” Tracy said.

“He did what he did because it made him happy not for any recognition.”

Ian Fitzsimmons has been described as extremely loyal. Picture: Supplied

At his memorial earlier this year, Mr Fitzsimmons’ son Shane said his father was extremely loyal and held lifetime memberships at his local sporting clubs in Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley.

Almost 650 Victorians, typically older people, were diagnosed with asbestos diseases in the past four years.

Amid asbestos awareness week, WorkSafe executive health and safety director Sam Jenkin said workplaces needed to do everything possible to eliminate exposure to asbestos because it made the difference between life and developing a fatal illness.

WorkSafe has issued 210 asbestos compliance notices and conducted more than 1900 site visits in the past year.

Mr Fitzsimmons’s family’s lawyer, Travis Fewster of Arnold Thomas and Becker, said: “We hope that we can raise awareness of the very real danger of asbestos”.

Tracy said: “It’s 2024 and ignorance is not an option”.

Amaca and EJ Vibert were contacted for comment.