Major pub operator fined after asbestos exposure

Date:

26 November 2010

Release No:

NE/275/10

A major UK pub operator has been fined after three electricians and two plumbers were exposed to asbestos during refurbishment works at a Darlington pub.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail Ltd was refurbishing the vacant White Horse pub on Harrowgate Hill in Darlington, when the construction workers were potentially exposed to deadly asbestos fibres.

A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the company had commissioned a survey to check for the presence of asbestos in June 2007, but it was restricted to only those areas where the proposed refurbishment works were to be carried out. The refurbishment plans were then changed before work started.

Bishop Auckland Magistrates' Court heard how on 28 September 2007, the electricians and plumbers started work in a kitchen area which had not been included in the original survey.

The ceiling tiles in the kitchen contained asbestos which meant that when the workers drilled into them with power tools, in preparation for new electrics and plumbing, dust and debris covered their faces and clothing, potentially exposing them to asbestos fibres.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail Ltd, of Fleet Street, Birmingham was fined a total of £14,001 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, and ordered to pay costs of £11,781.45.

HSE Inspector Victoria Wise said: "Construction and maintenance workers are among those most at risk from asbestos-related diseases due to the nature of their work. Asbestos is still widely present in buildings constructed prior to 2000, so workers can often inadvertently disturb materials containing asbestos if the correct survey has not been carried out to check for its presence and appropriate control measures put in place.

"Mitchells & Butlers Retail Ltd knew there was asbestos in the building and should have ensured that all the areas where work was to be done had been checked for asbestos and the necessary precautions taken.

"Everyone who owns or operates commercial premises built prior to 2000 must ensure that a suitable and sufficient assessment for asbestos has been carried out prior to any construction work starting.

"In addition construction and maintenance workers should have asbestos awareness training so that they can recognise that some materials may contain asbestos and know what action to take."

Among the workers exposed was Jonathan Cook, 38, from Cleethorpes. He said: "Because the effects of asbestos take a long time to show up, the worry of whether the asbestos has caused lasting damage to my health will stay with me for years to come. And it's not just me - it's a huge worry for my partner also, as there is a chance that she might have been exposed to fibres that were brought home on my work clothes.

"Anyone working on refurbishment or construction projects should never take anything for granted and should make sure they get on an asbestos awareness course. Although we'd been given plans of the White Horse and the work we were doing, because the survey hadn't been done we had no idea there was asbestos in the ceiling tiles until the site manager said something. If we'd been given the training before starting work, I definitely would have been much more vigilant about the risk that asbestos could be present."

Asbestos is the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK, with an estimated 4,000 people dying every year. Information on working safely with asbestos is available at www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos

Notes to editors

1. The court also ordered Mitchells & Butlers Retail Ltd to pay a separate "15 victim surcharge, the proceeds of which will be spent on services for victims and witnesses.
2. The investigation also found none of the workers had been given asbestos awareness training, leading HSE to serve four of the contractors Mitchells & Butlers had appointed with Improvement Notices, requiring them to provide such training.
3. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement.
4. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974, states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety."
5. Regulation 5 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 states that before work is undertaken a company should carry out "a suitable and sufficient assessment as to whether asbestos, what type of asbestos, contained in what material and in what condition was or was liable to be present".

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