Fines after workers exposed to asbestos

Date:

2 March 2012

An Ammanford-based knitwear company and a cladding firm site foreman have been fined for putting workers and visitors at risk of exposure to asbestos.

Corgi Hosiery Ltd contracted Dragon Cladding Ltd to remove an asbestos cement sheet roof at their New Road branch in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire

Having received a complaint about the work, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the site on the 22nd October 2008, and found roofers had removed the asbestos sheets from the roof, but they had also removed plaster-like material from the underside of the sheets and structural steelwork.

HSE inspectors stopped the work immediately and tests confirmed the plaster-like material contained asbestos.

On further investigation it was found that Dragon Cladding Ltd's site foreman Stuart Phillips, 27, had instructed two workers to use a hammer and chisel to remove the plaster-like material from the building steelwork.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard no effort was made to establish what this material was prior to work commencing, and the debris was swept into domestic black bin bags and placed in open skips.

Throughout the duration of the work, Corgi Hosiery employees had continuous access to the main building, with one worker based in the area throughout the works. Visitors to the premises were not excluded from the works area and were also potentially exposed to asbestos.

Mr Phillips, of Llangadog in Carmarthenshire, was found to have failed to adequately assess the risks, plan the work and implement a safe system of work. He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing and today was fined a total of £4,000 for breaching Regulations 11 (1) (a) and 16 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006 (£2,000 per regulation), by virtue of Section 37 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 costs.

Corgi Hosiery Ltd, of Ammanford in Carmarthenshire, was found guilty of failing to prevent exposure of its employees to asbestos at an earlier hearing and was today fined £25,000 for breaching Regulation 11(1) of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2006, with £15,000 costs.

HSE inspector Anne Marie Orrells said:

"Nowadays, the risks of exposure to asbestos are well known so this serious incident was inexcusable.

"Had Mr Phillips adequately assessed the risks prior to the start of the work, it would have been apparent that the work should have been carried out by an asbestos-licensed contractor, under controlled conditions.

"Corgi Hosiery Limited should have ensured measures were taken to exclude employees and visitors from the area while the roof work was being carried out overhead. As a result of these failings both workers and visitors to their premises were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos-containing materials."

When asbestos fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases which are responsible for around 4,000 deaths a year.

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 11(1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 states: 'every employer shall prevent the exposure of his employees to asbestos so far as is reasonable practicable. Where it is not reasonably practicable to prevent such exposure, the employer should take the measures necessary to reduce the exposure of his employees to asbestos to the lowest level reasonably practicable by measures other than the use of respiratory protective equipment, and ensure that the number of his employees who are exposed to asbestos at any one time is as low as is reasonably practicable.
3. 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."
4. Section 37(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: Where an offence under any of the relevant statutory provisions committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or a person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
5. All employers have a duty to assess risks in the workplace and put in place sensible health and safety measures to manage them. More information on risk assessment can be found on the HSE website at http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/index.htm.
6. For further information about the facts related to asbestos, visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/hiddenkiller

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