A manufacturer of asbestos cement building products owes a duty of care to home handymen who might cut, drill, scrape or brush those products, and must take reasonable steps including public advertising to warn of the dangers of asbestos exposure. Inadequate product labelling and distribution of literature in hardware stores is insufficient to discharge the duty. On causation, once a plaintiff establishes a prima facie case that the manufacturer's breach caused or materially contributed to mesothelioma, an evidential onus shifts to the defendant to show the breach had no effect. The epidemiological 'background risk' of mesothelioma cannot be equated with the risk from ambient environmental exposure alone, because the background risk cohort includes persons with unrecalled specific exposures. General damages for mesothelioma in Western Australia assessed at $180,000 (2006 values).
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