Firm’s failures led to workers’ exposure to asbestos

Posted: December 11, 2012

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure Employer Negligence Mesothelioma 

Significant safety failures by a plumbing company may have led to two workers being exposed to dangerous asbestos fibres during a major refurbishment project on flats in Aberystwyth.

The workers – a site manager and a subcontractor – were not provided with information about the presence of asbestos while working at the flats between November 2010 and February 2011.

The court heard that a routine inspection by the HSE found contractors carrying out refurbishment work without taking account of asbestos that may have been present.

Workers had removed 82 metres of cement board, which a survey had identified as ‘presumed to contain asbestos’, by breaking it up with a hammer and shovelling it into a wheelbarrow before putting it in a general waste skip. The contractor was due to do the same on two other properties, one of which had asbestos confirmed in the soffits.

HSE found that the firm had made no effort to obtain asbestos surveys that existed for the properties to determine if asbestos was present in the flats or assess the risk of working with asbestos on the site.

The firm also failed to make a plan to properly deal with its removal and hired a site manager for the scheme who had not been given asbestos awareness training.

HSE Inspector Phil Nicolle, speaking after the hearing, said:

“Around 4,000 people die every year as a result of breathing-in asbestos fibres, making it the biggest single cause of work-related deaths in the UK.”

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