Demolition firm fined for Maesteg site asbestos failings

Date:

26 September 2011

A demolition contractor has been fined after exposing workers to potentially deadly asbestos fibres at the former Revlon factory in Maesteg.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found Walsh Plant Hire and Demolition Contractors Ltd of Pontypridd ignored repeated warnings to manage the safe removal of asbestos during work on the demolition of the site.

Bridgend Magistrates Court heard the company was first served with a Prohibition Notice ceasing activity at the site in February 2010, because work to remove asbestos cement sheeting debris was likely to generate asbestos dust which could have posed a health risk to those working at the site.

Before resuming work, the company was required to produce a plan for the safe removal of the materials to make sure it was properly managed.

A management plan was developed to keep the asbestos cement in a safe condition by damping down the waste until it was removed from the site. However, a further visit by the HSE on 27 May 2010 found the company had ignored the guidelines in its own plan, as the site was dry, and no damping down had been undertaken for a week.

Excavators were also found to be moving rubble contaminated with asbestos-containing debris, and tracking over asbestos cement fragments, potentially contaminating workers with asbestos dust.

Walsh Plant Hire and Demolition Contractors Ltd, of Unit 6, Old Parish Road, Ynysybwl, Pontypridd, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 7(5) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006. The company was today fined £5,000 and ordered to pay full costs of £6,828.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Phil Nicolle said:

"The company was well aware of what it should have done to ensure the health of its workers and others when working with asbestos-containing materials at the site.

"HSE had taken previous enforcement action to ensure the company had a plan of work to manage the asbestos material safely. This plan was prepared but then ignored by the company.

"Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK. This prosecution sends a clear message to demolition contractors that they cannot ignore the safe practices required to work with asbestos cement products. HSE will continue to prosecute those lacking."

Asbestos-related diseases are responsible for around 4,000 deaths a year. Working on or near damaged asbestos-containing materials or breathing in high levels of asbestos fibres, which may be many hundreds of times that of environmental levels, could increase your chances of getting an asbestos-related disease.

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. Regulation 7(5) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 states that: "the employer shall ensure, that the work to which the plan of work relates is carried out in accordance with that plan and any subsequent changes to it."
3. HSE news releases are available at www.hse.gov.uk/press.

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