Companies Fined After Workers Exposed To Asbestos, UK

Main Category: Asbestos / Mesothelioma
Article Date: 29 Oct 2009 - 21:00 PDT

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Two businesses and a company director have been fined after workers in Manchester were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos fibres.

The prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) comes just days before the launch of a national £1.2 million campaign to increase awareness about asbestos among tradespeople.

Recon Packaging Ltd, of Stamford Square, Ashton-under-Lyne, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4(3) of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 at Trafford Magistrates' Court on Tuesday 27 October. It was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000.

Industrial & Commercial Building Services Ltd (ICBS) of Greek Street, Stockport and its Managing Director, Kevin Bennett, of The Ridge, Marple, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, and Regulation 3(1) of the Asbestos Licensing Regulations 1983. They were each fined £2,000.

The court heard that ICBS employees came into contact with asbestos while demolishing part of the Recon Packaging recycling plant on Bower Street in Miles Platting in early 2006.

Recon Packaging hired ICBS to carry out the work after the plant was severely damaged by fire in May 2005. The building included substantial amounts of asbestos but no site assessment was carried out, and ICBS was not licensed to remove it.

HSE decided to prosecute after Inspector Stuart Kitchingman visited the site on 13 April 2006. He said:

"We took immediate action to stop the demolition, and were shocked that workers had been allowed to remove asbestos without the proper precautions being taken.

"Recon did not carry out any assessment to find out whether asbestos was, or was likely to be, present in its premises. If the company had, it would have found asbestos in large sections of insulation boards and some in coating sprayed on the building's steelwork.

"ICBS and Kevin Bennett should have made sure that the premises were free from asbestos before starting work. But they allowed workers to break up materials using hammers, crowbars and power tools, without wearing suitable protective equipment and without a licence.

"Asbestos is the single biggest industrial killer in Britain, and the control measures on this site were totally inadequate. The demolition workers were exposed to unacceptable levels of asbestos fibres, and have been put at risk of becoming seriously ill in the future."

Around 4,000 people die every year from diseases linked to asbestos, making it the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in Great Britain. More people die as a result of being exposed to asbestos than in road accidents.

Asbestos was regularly used as a building material in the UK from the 1950s onwards, and any building constructed before 2000 may contain it. Asbestos materials left undisturbed are safe but can release dangerous fibres when they are disturbed, causing serious diseases if breathed in.

More information on handling asbestos safely is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos[1].

Notes

1. Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

2. The Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 and the Asbestos Licensing Regulations 1983 have now been replaced by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.

3. Companies are required to ensure that a Type 3 asbestos survey is carried out before any demolition or substantial refurbishment work takes place. A Type 3 survey involves a qualified asbestos surveyor carrying out a detailed inspection covering all areas of the building. Any materials containing asbestos must then be removed by an appropriate contractor before demolition or refurbishment work starts.

Source
HSE

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