Posts Tagged ‘asbestos surveys’
Company fined after exposing workers and the public to asbestos
A refurbishment company has been fined after workers and the public were exposed to asbestos in a Leicestershire village.
Shengxuan Company Ltd was converting a shop in Borough Street, Castle Donington, into a restaurant on 16 June 2010.
Part of the work involved converting an integral garage into a storeroom but in doing so, workers disturbed asbestos-containing materials. This was then put in a skip by the workers, who were unaware of its presence or its risks.
A member of the public with experience in the asbestos industry walked past the site, saw what was in the skip and reported it to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Other debris was also seen on the floor between the skip and the garage. Read More
Organisations blame each other over hospital asbestos disturbance
An NHS Trust, a security firm and a company director have been fined after asbestos was released during maintenance work at a hospital in Northamptonshire.
Wellingborough Magistrates’ Court heard that Northamptonshire NHS Teaching Primary Care Trust had contracted NUTEC Security Systems Ltd to upgrade security at Isebrook Hospital in Wellingborough.
Following a series of burglaries at the hospital, the NHS Trust decided to install CCTV and motion sensors inside the hospital buildings. During the installation, which was carried out between 21 April 2008 and 9 June 2008, NUTEC engineers ran cables through false ceilings and partition walls in public areas of the hospital. Asbestos was present in both the walls and the ceilings and was disturbed during the work. Read More
Northern TUC welcomes change in asbestos compensation policy
As a result of pressure brought to bear here in the North East and lobbying by the TUC Asbestos Support & Campaign Group the government has just decided to change its policy on posthumous pleural plaques claims.
Instead of an outright refusal they are now prepared to make a payment if a pleural plaques sufferer dies after having submitted an application. In appropriate cases the payment will be made to the deceased’s estate. The MOJ website FAQ page has published a clarification on the award of posthumous claims. Read More
Asbestos Removal – Asbestos at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd to shut down hospital theatres
MORE than half the operating theatres at North Wales’s biggest hospital will be shut down after asbestos was discovered in ceilings.
It has sparked fears of longer waiting lists and delayed operations for patients at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, as work to remove the asbestos will take 14 months, starting in the New Year.
Health bosses insist emergency and elective surgery will continue at the hospital, which normally carries out 10,000 operations a year in its main theatres. The Betsi Cadwaladr health board said it had “no intention” of transferring surgery to the region’s other two district hospitals, Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor and Wrexham Maelor, or over the border to England.
But asked how the surgical workload would be handled with just five out of the hospital’s 11 theatres available, the board repeatedly said: “Work is currently being undertaken to develop the plan on how services will continue to be delivered in Ysbyty Glan Clwyd.”
To meet that undertaking, sources say one option could be to bring a mobile theatre unit into Glan Clwyd.
And staff are preparing to work weekends and evenings to help ensure patients don’t suffer, said Glan Clwyd surgeon Dr Jonathon Osborne, deputy chairman of the Welsh Council of the British Medical Association.
But he called on the board to provide an assurance that “consultant-led emergency surgery” would not be downgraded at the site as part of an ongoing review of health services, including general surgery. Read More