A 55-year-old carpenter developed pleurisy with pleural effusion on the right side in 2000 and on the left side in 2003. No known causes of pleurisy were found. He had been occupationally exposed to asbestos during a 6-month-period in 1971 while working with roof sheets made of asbestos cement. In the literature there is evidence of asbestos being a cause of benign pleural effusion. We found it likely that the pleurisy with pleural effusion found in this patient was an occupational condition and it should therefore be notified as industrial injury.