If you're careless about exposing workers to asbestos, be warned. The hse is eager to prosecute and will soon have tougher laws on its side.
Inhaling one asbestos fibre can activate a time bomb for workers, resulting in death from lung disease years down the road.

A recent case in Redditch shows how seriously the Health and Safety Executive takes it when contractors – and clients – are careless about exposing workers to the deadly material.

Luminar Leisure and GF Interiors were fined a total of £23,100 at Redditch magistrates' court in August after they exposed subcontractors to the risk of inhaling asbestos fibres during a refurbishment - despite a survey that flagged a significant asbestos presence.

Luminar had contracted GF as principal contractor to convert a disused cinema into a restaurant in Worcestershire. In September 2001 a specialist demolition firm started removing fittings. After six days, employees who were stripping flooring in the cinema's projection room discovered material that they suspected contained asbestos.

Foremen from GF and from the demolition firm decided it was safe to work in other parts of the building. Shortly afterwards, however, workers found more material they feared contained asbestos. An asbestos removal firm was called in who inspected the site and found widespread asbestos contamination on floors and other surfaces.

Luminar and GF failed these workers in a number of serious ways, principally during the planning of the work. The two companies failed to carry out an adequate survey to identify whether there was asbestos present at the site.

No protection
They should have been warned by a building survey carried out before Luminar even bought the cinema. This survey identified five areas that contained asbestos. Both firms had access to the survey, and it should have triggered a comprehensive site study.

GF also failed to ensure that its managers were adequately trained to deal with asbestos contamination safely. Neither the site foreman nor the firm's safety officer had specific safety training covering asbestos.

Luminar was fined £6,600, divided equally between Regulations 10 and 11 of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 (CDM), for failing to prepare a suitable health and safety plan and failing to provide a planning supervisor with sufficient information.

In prosecuting the principal contractor, GF, the HSE used both the CDM Regulations and the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations (CAW) 1987.

GF was fined £16,500 for five offences under CDM for failing to prepare a suitable health and safety plan and failing to provide contractors with information about risks to their health and safety; and under CAW for failing to provide employees with information on the risks of asbestos, failing to prevent employees being exposed to asbestos and failing to take adequate measures to prevent the spread of asbestos.

This is a fairly typical case. There are about eight reported asbestos-related prosecutions each year, but it will get even tougher for companies under the new Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002, which next year extend liability to anyone who "controls" premises. This is a much wider net than the old regulations provide.

Penalties under the 2002 CAW regulations are the same but it is thought that the HSE intends to bring cumulative charges where appropriate, adding fines under the new act and under the Health and Safety at Work Act for bigger total penalties.

Source

Construction Manager