Failure to remove asbestos ends in fine
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Avon Freight was fined £30,000 for failing to remove asbestos correctly and safely
By Roger Brown
PALLETFORCE MEMBER Avon Freight, based in Redditch, has been ined £30,000 after it exposed staff to potentially harmful asbestos ibres over a ive-month period.
In a Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecution, Worcester Crown Court was told that in 2008 the haulier was demolishing the walls of a unit adjacent to its Hemming Road HQ to develop a new storage facility.
The irm’s architect commissioned a survey that identiied an asbestos insulation board in several partition walls, which the company wanted to demolish, and obtained estimates for its removal from three licensed contractors.
However, the company asked builder Ronald MacPhee – who was carrying out minor refurbishment work on the premises – to remove the asbestos board, despite the fact he did not have a licence to do so.
In April and May 2008, MacPhee and two other workers removed 1.5 tonnes of board and disposed of it as asbestos cement – a material that can be removed without a licence.
Five months later, two other companies that had been commissioned to demolish parts of the building and build an extension, discovered pieces of asbestos board on the loor and still attached to retaining screws on the walls.
Analysis revealed that the area was contaminated with asbestos ibres and required decontamination by a specialist licensed asbestos contractor.
Avon Freight pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and was ordered to pay £26,147 costs. MD Simon Poole was ined £30,000 and ordered to pay £26,147 costs, while MacPhee received a ine of £2,500 and was told to pay £500 costs.
Poole tells CM: “We were unaware of requirements involved in removal of asbestos and have learnt a hard lesson.
“It was accepted by the court that no proit was made from our actions. It wasn’t a deliberate act and we did not have sight of the asbestos report. [We also didn’t know] that the air test readings taken by the HSE were below the prescribed levels.
“These facts were all taken as mitigation by the court as was our unblemished record.
“There is no question that asbestos is a dangerous product, particularly with long exposure times, and I would urge any company with building work to review the existence of asbestos in the building and take professional advice.” HSE inspector Tariq Khan says at least 20 people now have to live with the knowledge they have been exposed to asbestos.
“This type of exposure could cause life-threatening illnesses in years to come but because it takes so long to develop, these people will be left with years of uncertainty,” he adds.
No excuses
It’s no excuse to claim ignorance of the law. MacPhee should never have carried out the work, and his partial removal of the asbestos insulation board left the site in an even less safe state than before, as it was contaminated with fibres.