Construction firm fined for demolition site asbestos failings

Date:

23 March 2011

Release No:

HSE/EM166/11

A construction company has been fined for its role in exposing workers to asbestos in Derby.

Quarnmill Construction Ltd was preparing the former Allens Printers building in Webster Street for demolition in October 2009 and had employed a contractor to remove asbestos-containing materials.

The company provided the contractor with a survey detailing the work to be done, but did not check his suitability to carry out the work, or that he held a licence to remove asbestos, as required by law.

Once work was underway, Quarnmill informed the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) that they thought the site had become contaminated with asbestos as a result of the work the contractor had carried out.

Quarnmill Construction Ltd, of Derby Road, Aston on Trent, pleaded guilty to breaching regulation 4(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 for allowing such failings at a site it controlled. The company was today fined £13,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2,700 by Derby magistrates.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Carol Southerd commented:

"Quarnmill did not check the competence of the contractor to do this job nor that he had a suitable licence. This check is required by law.

"His unsuitability was eventually discovered after a consultant checked the HSE website and reported him, but by this time it was too late.

"Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. Employers need to protect their workers now to prevent them contracting an asbestos-related disease in the future."

For further information about the dangers of asbestos, and working safely with asbestos containing materials, visit www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos

Notes to editors

1. 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. www.hse.gov.uk
2. The contractor cannot be named for legal reasons as proceedings against him are still active.
3. Regulation 4(1)(a) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "No person on whom these Regulations place a duty shall appoint or engage a CDM co-ordinator, designer, principal contractor or contractor unless he has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the person to be appointed or engaged is competent."
4. Information about asbestos can be found on the HSE website at www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos

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