Posts Tagged ‘Asbestos News’
Asbestos compliance checks in schools show 17% failure rate
Asbestos compliance checks which were carried out between November 2010 and June 2011 show that 17% of schools have not implemented adequate asbestos management.
The compliance checks were carried out at 164 voluntary aided and foundation schools and also academies. The 17% failure shows that 28 out of the 164 schools had inadequate management plans, however, another 110 schools received formal advice on how there was room for improvement with regards to their management plans.
Enforcement action taken against the 28 schools was not due to the danger of exposure for teachers and pupils, it was the failure to provide adequate training to staff and also not being able to produce and show inspectors management plans, which caused these failings.
Read More
A £1m fine for Marks and Spencer asbestos exposure at Reading store
At Bournemouth Magistrates’ court Marks and Spencer have been fined £1m for failing to protect customers, staff and workers from potential exposure to asbestos during refurbishment at stores in Reading, Bournemouth and Plymouth.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) initiated the criminal proceedings against Marks and Spencer plc and three other companies for asbestos-related breaches during refurbishment work at shops. It has been said that the management of the ‘retail giant’ were more concerned about the refurbishment works being ‘unsightly and ‘interfering with the shopping experience’, than controlling the exposure of the cancer causing fibres.
Bournemouth crown court was told that Marks and Spencer plc, did not allocate sufficient time and space for the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the Reading store. The contractors had to work overnight in enclosures on the shop floor, with the aim of completing small areas of asbestos removal before the shop opened to the public each day. Read More
Parents remove their children from Neasden primary school over asbestos concerns
Concerned parents have removed their children from a primary school after the discovery of asbestos in the building.
The potentially lethal material was found by workmen in Brentfield Primary School, in Meadow Garth, Neasden, over the summer holidays.
Parts of the building have been cordoned off and parents say their children have been forced to use toilets in nearby Neasden Temple.
They also say hot food is off the menu and children are being forced to eat their lunches in classrooms.
A worried mother, who wished not to be named, said: “The school should be closed until all the work is carried out but the council doesn’t want to do this.
“Half of the building is sealed off. The children are using the temple next door to go to the toilet. There is no kitchen and they are eating in classrooms.
“It obviously is not safe if parts of the school are closed. Half of the parents have taken their kids out. A lot of parents down here don’t know what is going on.” Read More
Worker exposed to dangerously high levels of asbestos
A company in Bath has been fined after a builder was exposed to high levels of a type of asbestos linked to malignant and incurable cancer.
Jonathan Arnold, 49, of Castle Cary was fitting pipework for a new central heating system at Oxford House, in Combe Down, Bath when he was exposed to high levels of blue asbestos (crocidolite).
In a prosecution brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) against the building’s owners, Formac Electronics Ltd, Bath Magistrates’ Court heard the airborne substance was disturbed and spread within the building during refurbishment.
The court was told that, for a five-hour period on 4 August, Mr Arnold was estimated to have been exposed to a high concentration of airborne asbestos fibres many times over the control limit.
HSE investigated the incident and found Formac Electronics Ltd had failed to carry out a refurbishment and demolition survey, to establish the presence and condition of asbestos in the building.
It also failed to provide suitable information to contractors prior to the start of the refurbishment works which resulted in uncontrolled disturbance of the loose fill blue asbestos located within the fabric of the building.
When an HSE Specialist Inspector visited Oxford House under controlled conditions, loose fill blue asbestos insulation material could be clearly seen in the area where Mr Arnold had spent a long time on his hands and knees fitting pipework on the 3 and 4 August 2010.
Asbestos exposure is linked to a range of serious diseases including lung cancer, asbestosis and mesothelioma, a malignant, incurable cancer. Of the three main asbestos types, crocidolite is associated with the highest risk of developing mesothelioma. Read More