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Posts Tagged ‘HSE’
Asbestos Awareness
A laboratory testing firm has been prosecuted after putting workers at its Tyneside premises at risk of exposure to asbestos.
An investigation was started into the activities of Exova (UK) Limited after a complaint about the company was submitted. The complaint suggested that the company had not dealt with damaged asbestos at its site at The Grubb Parsons Building on Shields Road, Newcastle.
The company had been advised to follow asbestos regulations and had failed to do so after the second recommendation.
The company’s own accredited asbestos testing branch carried out a survey of the premises on the 3rd of October Newcastle Magistrates’ Court Heard. The branch identified damaged asbestos in two separate areas of the site and the survey stated that the asbestos should be removed, repaired or sealed.
In February 2010 a further survey was completed, this survey also stated that the previously identified damaged asbestos was still there.
Andrew Woodhall, and HSE inspector, visited the site on 15 July 2010, he found the recommendations of the two earlier surveys had still not been implemented and employees were continuing to access and work in the area.
Due to employees working in the area where asbestos was present and exposure was likely, the HSE inspector instigated enforcement action.
A Birmingham contractor, Redditch freight firm and its managing director have been prosecuted for putting at least 20 people at risk of exposure to asbestos.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Avon Freight Group Ltd (AFG) and its managing director Simon Poole. Builder, Ronald McPhee has also been prosecuted, over the exposure during work to convert a unit in Hemming Road, Redditch, into a new storage centre and headquarters for AFG.
Asbestos insulation board (AIB) was indentified in a number of partition walls whilst a survey was carried out by AFG’s architect. The company wanted the walls demolished and obtained quote estimates for its removal from three licensed contractors.
The Worcester Crown Court heard that Simon Poole instructed builder Ronald MacPhee, whom was carrying out minor refurbishment works on the site, to carry out the work even though he was not licensed.
Almost 1.5 tonnes of asbestos insulation board was removed by the builder and his workers; it was then disposed of as asbestos cement which can be disposed of without a license. This was carried out sometime between 24 April and 16 May 2008.
The HSE is seeking views on revising the Control of Asbestos Regulations to bring them into line with the parent European Directive.
The consultation follows the European Commission’s reasoned opinion earlier this year that the UK had under-implemented Article 3(3) of the Directive 2003/18/EC. The Article provides for the exemption of some types of lower-risk work with asbestos from three requirements of the Directive: notification of work; medical examinations; and record-keeping.
However, the EC decided that the omission in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 of the terms ‘non-friable’ and ‘without deterioration of non-degraded material’ broadened the scope of the exemption, allowing more types of asbestos work to be exempt from the three requirements than was intended.
The HSE had taken the decision to omit the terms because it felt the lack of definition surrounding the terms might confuse duty-holders and make enforcement difficult. Instead, the Regulations introduced a short-term peak exposure limit of airborne fibre, which cannot be exceeded if the exemptions are to apply.
Lincoln University has been fined for putting staff, students and contractors at risk of exposure to asbestos.
The failings came to light on 24 February 2010 when a lecturer became trapped in a room after a door lock broke. She enlisted the help of a colleague to release her and once freed, they noticed debris around the door handle.
They notified the university’s health and safety department which examined the door and others in the area, and discovered most were lined with asbestos insulating board (AIB), and that some were damaged.
The university notified the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which carried out its own investigation. It was found that a number of areas across the university’s estate had been subject to asbestos surveys over a number of years and many areas were found to contain asbestos-containing materials or even asbestos debris, yet no remedial action had been taken.
Lincoln University Higher Education Corporation, of Brayford Pool, Lincoln, pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching Regulation 5(1) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court today. The university was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £12,759 costs.
Marks & Spencer is being fined £1m for failing to protect customers, staff and workers from potential exposure to asbestos during refurbishment works, so it is important for anyone with control over non-domestic premises to familiarise themselves with the changes that are to be made to UK asbestos regulations.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) ended a consultation on changes to the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 (CAR 2006) on 4 November, relating to proposed new regulations to replace the CAR 2006. The changes are being made to bring UK asbestos regulations in line with the EC directive on asbestos.
The revised regulations will mean that more employers carrying out some types of lower risk, short duration maintenance and repair work with asbestos will have to comply with requirements to notify of asbestos work, keep records and carry out medical examinations for workers.
In the future, there will be three categories of work with asbestos as opposed to two:
A Merthyr Tydfil-based recycling company has been fined for failing to take appropriate measures to control the risk of exposure of its workers and the public to the potentially fatal Legionella bacteria.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Merthyr Industrial Services (Biomass) Limited following an investigation of its premises as part of HSE’s response to the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease along the Heads of the Valleys corridor in September 2010.
A Cardiff letting agent has been sentenced after a handyman was exposed to asbestos-containing material while carrying out work on a client’s property.
A self-employed handyman from Cardiff, who does not wish to be named, regularly carried out work on properties managed by Rochefort Shugar Ltd and on 15 October 2010 was sent to a domestic property in Sully to fix a leaking porch roof.
As he was removing a sheet of material from the underside panel of the damaged roof, he realised it was asbestos-containing insulation board. The sheet was broken during removal and the surrounding area was contaminated with asbestos debris.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuting, told Barry Magistrates’ Court the removal of the panel and the sweeping up and bagging of the debris would have resulted in the significant release of asbestos fibres into the air.
Leading housing consultancy Pennington Choices has announced a seminar exploring ‘Best Practice Management of Asbestos in Social Housing’ to complement the Health and Safety Executive campaign and highlight how to deal with this potentially fatal substance.
Across Britain, more than 40,000 people have died from the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma since the late 1960s and the latest figures show that the annual numbers dying from this disease are increasing.
Asbestos came into popular use within the building trade in the 1950s and can be notoriously difficult to identify; found in pipe insulation, boilers, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, sprayed coatings and certain kinds of roofing materials.
Mark Seaborn, managing director of Pennington Choices explained: “Many people don’t realise how common it is to find asbestos in buildings built before the year 2000. It’s important to be able to identify it and also to know what to do if you do find it.”
Following their commitment to run a number of free asbestos awareness training sessions, as part of a specific Health and Safety Executive initiative, Pennington Choices has announced a major seminar event for social landlords, which will focus on legal duties when dealing with asbestos, safeguarding health, best practice during refurbishment, ensuring the quality of surveys and much more.
A BUILDING contractor has been ordered to pay more than £14,000 in fines and costs after its workers were exposed to potentially deadly asbestos fibres during refurbishment work in Swansea.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Swansea-based J C Irvine Limited after an investigation found work on the refurbishment of the former Ace Electrics building in The Strand, Swansea, was being carried out without an asbestos survey having been done.
Swansea Magistrates heard that, between April 27 and May 12 last year, asbestos containing materials were disturbed by construction workers employed by the company, releasing asbestos fibres into the air.
The HSE was informed employees were carrying out work in a contaminated building. Inspectors who visited the site served an immediate Prohibition Notice.
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