Edinburgh Council has been fined £14,000 after 14 of its employees, were potentially exposed to asbestos while carrying out refurbishment work.

The workers, including joiners, had been instructed to remove laboratory doors from Castlebrae Community High School back in April 2007 and carry out alterations at the council’s workshop on Murrayburn Road. This involved cutting the doors which disturbed the asbestos core inside.

The council pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court of breaching the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, Regulations 4 (9)(c)(i), 6(1), 11(1)(a) and 7(1).

The court heard how the council had failed to keep accurate records of the location and condition of asbestos and did not have suitable procedures in place to inform those working on or near the substance that it was there.

HSE inspector Mike Orr commented after the case:

“The risks from asbestos are well known and it is imperative that precautions to manage those risks are put in place. City of Edinburgh Council should have been well aware of its responsibilities. Its failings are clear.

“Although the council had carried out a survey of the premises which identified the asbestos core in the doors, there was no register on the school site and the summary provided to workers wasn’t sufficient to alert them to the danger.

“The council did not carry out a sufficient risk assessment prior to the work commencing in 2007.

“It is important to stress that many buildings, including schools, contain asbestos. If it remains undisturbed and is in good condition it should not be a cause for concern.

“As this case demonstrates, those most likely to be at risk from asbestos are tradesmen. Every week, 20 tradesmen die from asbestos-related diseases, including mesothelioma – an incurable cancer.

“This case should serve as a warning to property owners or those who manage buildings to ensure they have robust arrangements in place to manage the risks from asbestos.”

HSE recently re-launched its ‘Asbestos: the hidden killer’ campaign which aims to raise awareness of the risks of asbestos amongst tradesmen. For more information visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/hiddenkiller[1]

Notes

1. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, Regulations 4 (9)(c)(i) states that the measures to be specified in the plan for managing the risk (of asbestos found in a premises as a result of any survey) shall include adequate measures for ensuring that information about the location and condition of any asbestos or any such substance is provided to every person liable to disturb it.

2. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, Regulations 4 6(1) states that An employer shall not carry out work which is liable to expose his employees to asbestos unless he has (a) made a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risk created by that exposure to the health of those employees and of the steps that need to be taken to meet the requirements of these Regulations; (b) recorded the significant findings of that risk assessment as soon as is practicable after the risk assessment is made; and (c) implemented the steps referred to in sub-paragraph (a).

3. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, Regulations 7(1) states that An employer shall not undertake any work with asbestos unless he has prepared a suitable written plan of work detailing how that work is to be carried out.

4. The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, Regulations 11(1)(a) states that Every employer shall prevent the exposure of his employees to asbestos so far as is reasonably practicable.

5. The effects of exposure to asbestos fibres can take as long as 20 to 30 years to manifest themselves and around 4,000 people are dying every year in Great Britain due to exposure to asbestos.

6. Legislation came into force in May 2004 which requires the organisation in control of any non domestic premises, or the common parts on domestic premises, to identify and assess asbestos in those premises.

Source
HSE