High street retailer and two contractors found guilty of safety failings

Date:

18 July 2011

Release No:

COISE/1507

Marks and Spencer plc and two of its contractors have been convicted for putting members of the public, staff and construction workers at risk of exposure to asbestos-containing materials during the refurbishment of two stores.

Asbestos is the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK, with an estimated 4,000 people dying every year.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Marks and Spencer plc, Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd and PA Realisations Ltd (formerly Pectel Ltd). The work was carried out between 2006 and 2007 on shops in Reading and Bournemouth.

Winchester Crown Court heard construction workers at the two stores removed asbestos-containing materials that were present in the ceiling tiles and elsewhere.

The court heard that the client, Marks and Spencer plc, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of the asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store. The contractors had to work overnight in enclosures on the shop floor, with the aim of completing small areas of asbestos removal before the shop opened to the public each day.

The HSE alleged that Marks and Spencer plc failed to ensure that work at Reading complied with the appropriate minimum standards set out in legislation and approved codes of practice. The company had produced its own guidance on how asbestos should be removed inside its stores, and the court heard that this guidance was followed by contractors inappropriately during major refurbishment.

The contractor, PA Realisations Ltd, failed to reduce to a minimum the spread of asbestos to the Reading shop floor. Witnesses said that areas cleaned by the company were re-contaminated by air moving through the void between the ceiling tiles and the floor above, and by poor standards of work.

The principal contractor at the Bournemouth store, Wilmott Dixon Construction Ltd, failed to plan, manage and monitor removal of asbestos-containing materials. It did not prevent the possibility of asbestos being disturbed by its workers in areas that had not been surveyed extensively.

After the hearing, Charles Gilby, HSE Principal Inspector, said:

"This prosecution exposed serious failures by Marks and Spencer and its contractors that we hope others will learn from. This verdict is a wake-up call for the retail industry. Client accountability and responsibility is at the heart of this case, because asbestos can and does kill.

"There are very real lessons here for the country's large retailers and other organisations engaging in programmes of refurbishment, that they must allow enough time and resource to carry out work without endangering anyone."

Marks and Spencer plc, of Waterside House, North Wharf Road, Westminster, was found guilty of breaching section 2(1), relating to their own staff, and section 3(1), relating to members of the public and other workers, of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. These charges relate to the Broad Street Reading store and date from 24 April to 13 November 2006.

Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd, of Hertfordshire, was found guilty of contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 between 5 February 2007 and 28 February 2007. These breaches took place at the Marks and Spencer plc store in Commercial Road, Bournemouth.

Manchester-based company PA Realisations Ltd (formerly Pectel Ltd), of the Observatory, Chapel Walks, Manchester, was found guilty of contravening regulation 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 between 5 May 2006 and 12 November 2006 at the Marks and Spencer plc store on Broad Street, Reading.

At an earlier hearing, Styles & Wood Limited, of Manchester Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, pleaded guilty to contravening sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. These charges relate to offences committed between 24 April and 13 November 2006 at the Marks and Spencer plc store on Broad Street, Reading.

The guilty companies will be sentenced on 26 September 2011.

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. A fifth company, Clarence Contractors Ltd, was prosecuted and sentenced in relation to asbestos removal. The company, which was in liquidation, was on 12 January 2010 fined £50 for each offence (total £200) and £100 costs. Based in Sheffield, the company pleaded guilty to breaching regulations 10 and 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 for offences committed between September 2004 and September 2006 at Marks and Spencer plc store at 29 Old Town Street, Plymouth. The company also pleaded guilty to contravening regulations 11 and 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 at the Marks and Spencer plc store at 23 Commercial Road in Bournemouth. The offence under regulation 11 took place between 5 February 2007 and 3 July 2007. The offence under regulation 16 occurred between 5 February 2007 and 8 March 2007.
3. The addresses of the Marks and Spencer stores are: 29 Old Town Street, Drakes Circus, Plymouth; 23 Commercial Road, Bournemouth; and 12 Broad Street, Reading.
4. 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."
5. Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 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."
6. Regulation 11 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 begins: "Every employer shall prevent the exposure of his employees to asbestos so far as is reasonably practicable;" [For the rest of this regulation please see: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/2675/contents/made]
7. Regulation 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 states: "Every employer shall prevent or, where this is not reasonably practicable, reduce to the lowest level reasonably practicable, the spread of asbestos from any place where work under his control is carried out."
8. Regulation 16 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 states: "Every employer shall prevent or, where this is not reasonably practicable, reduce to the lowest level reasonably practicable the spread of asbestos from any place where work under his control is carried out.
9. Further information about asbestos can be found at www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/
10. Health and safety legislation is currently under the spotlight as part of the Cabinet Office's Red Tape Challenge. To have your say on which regulations should stay and which should be scrapped, visit: http://www.redtapechallenge.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/home/index/ and the Government will consider your views.
11. This case has now sentenced, for more information visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/press/2011/coi-se-msasbestos.htm

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