Staff and pupils were exposed to fibres for two days due to negligence during refurbishment work
Adrian Barraclough, construction site supervisor, has been fined £1,800 for the primary school asbestos exposure.
On top of this, he has been ordered to pay a £720 victim surcharge and £4,000 in costs, totalling £6,520.
The wall was to be left alone
Barraclough was given explicit instructions to leave the wall containing asbestos alone during kitchen refurbishment at Holy Family Catholic Primary School, Bristol.
Despite this, the 54-year-old cut through the wall with a circular saw, sending asbestos fibres into the school hall which was in use by school staff and students.
The Health and Safety Executive investigation determined that Barraclough had not followed instructions, nor his asbestos awareness training. The wall in questions was due to be checked by a licensed asbestos contractor to see if asbestos was present, and if so, remove it safely.
HSE inspector Ian Whittles said: “Every year around 5,000 people die from asbestos-related diseases, often taking decades to develop symptoms. In this case, wholly unacceptable exposure to asbestos fibres occurred as a result of an individual employee not following instructions and procedures designed to prevent such occurrences.”
The HSE website contains free guidance on working with asbestos and the safe removal of the hazardous material.
Asbestos still causes 5,000 deaths per year
Last November, research by High Speed Training showed that several employers were not treating asbestos on their construction sites with the seriousness required, and many tradesmen were the same.
The research found that 26% of tradespeople that have encountered asbestos did not follow removal guidelines, 26% had their superiors tell them to ignore the safe removal process, 35% of tradespeople do not thing asbestos is hazardous, 36% aren’t concerned about asbestos as they see it as a past-issue, and 46% of tradespeople believe they have received insufficient training.
With calls to make asbestos training compulsory for construction firms, Dr Richard Anderson, head of learning and development at High Speed Training, said: “Whilst asbestos has been banned in the UK since 1999, it is still present in many buildings in the UK – with some reports stating it’s present in 1.5 million – and it can take as long as 30 years or more for symptoms of related diseases to appear, which really indicates the need for better awareness for tradespeople, their families, and the general public.
“Asbestos removal regulations are in place to make sure that the risk of exposure to harmful fibres is limited and it’s imperative that guidelines are followed, by a trained professional. It is never something that you should attempt to do yourself, whether you are a tradesperson or member of the general public. There can be serious risks to your health if asbestos is disturbed and fibres are released into the air.”
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