A Demolition Company is fined after breaching work regulations
29/05/2007
Thank you for all your time and excellent work and rest assured that if myself or family or friends require any legal help in the future I will refer them to yourselves.
Michael, Crawley
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have warned companies to take
extra care when demolishing buildings which contain asbestos cement
sheets.
Wye Valley Demolition Ltd of St Weonards, Hereford,
demolished a former grain store building at Chapel lane Bodenham, in
June 2004. The building contained asbestos cement sheets which should
have been removed under controlled conditions, however, instead of this
happening, the company smashed the building to the ground using a
machine. The asbestos fibres then spread over the demolition site.
On
18 May, 2007, Wye Valley Demolition Ltd was fined £6,000 and asked to
pay costs of £13,621.49 at Hereford Magistrates' Court for pleading
guilty to breaches of Regulation 10 and Regulations 15 of the Control
of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002.
HSE Principal Inspector for
Construction, Joy Jones, said that people in the construction industry
need to exercise caution when working in areas that may contain
asbestos.
3,500 Asbestos Deaths
Asbestos should not be
treated lightly as it causes over 3,500 deaths in Britain each year,
with annual numbers predicted to rise in the next decade.
David
Cass, solicitor at Leading Law firm Irwin Mitchell said: "The recent
HSE warning reflects the significant legacy of the extremely widespread
use of asbestos in construction in the past. Even today, asbestos is
found in many buildings, and demolition workers as well as
electricians, plumbers, joiners and others regularly come into contact
with it.
"Familiar reports of cases like that of Wye Valley
Demolition Limited readily demonstrate a continuing problem in the
demolition industry. They also suggest that there are still employers
which are prepared to place economic considerations ahead of concern
about the very real and continuing risks faced by their employees.
Danger of exposure to asbestos
"Sadly,
despite heightened awareness of the danger of exposure to asbestos, it
seems likely there will be people exposed at work today who may well go
on to develop asbestos-related disease in the future."
Back to news