Polski Dzial Asbestos Firm Exposed Workers to Hidden Killer
A specialist asbestos removal company from Paisley has been fined after it exposed workers to dangerous asbestos fibres during the demolition of a former school building in Lincoln. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an investigation after inspectors visited the school and discovered a catalogue of safety breaches. The company had been sub-contracted […]
Council and building firm fined for asbestos exposure
Staffordshire County Council and a refurbishment firm have been fined for exposing a nursery class, school staff and two joiners to asbestos fibres. Stafford Crown Court heard two joiners were cutting through a large built-in cupboard in the nursery class when they noticed unidentified material nailed to the back of it. They showed this to […]
Government must act over new workplace cancer study
The TUC has called for urgent action from the government to deal with the huge death toll from work-related cancer as research is published in the British Journal of Cancer Supplement into the incidence of cancers caused by work. The study was was funded by the Health and Safety Executive, and found that every year […]
Firm fined after failing to manage asbestos
A laboratory testing firm has been prosecuted after putting workers at its Tyneside premises at risk of exposure to asbestos. An investigation was launched into the activities of Exova (UK) Limited following a complaint the company had not dealt with damaged asbestos at its site despite being recommended to do so on two previous occasions. […]
Supreme Court brings justice for asbestos victims
Trade Unions have welcomed the landmark ruling by the Supreme Court which will affect many of the 2,500 people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma each year. Mesothelioma is a terminal form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Mesothelioma has an unusually long gestation period, which can be in excess of 40 years between exposure […]
Failure to identify asbestos put workers at risk
A Cardiff company has been fined for putting the health of demolition workers at risk after a building survey failed to identify the presence of asbestos. Between 15th and 25th January 2010 PHH Environmental (UK) Ltd was commissioned to produce an asbestos survey on the soon to be demolished Old Castle Cinema in Merthyr Tydfil. […]
Prison sentence for asbestos related negligence
Two former businessmen have been sentenced by an Italian court to 16 years in jail for negligence that contributed to the asbestos related deaths of over 2,000 people, reports the Scotsman. Stephan Schmidheiny, from Switzerland, was the former owner of Swiss construction firm Eternit, and Jean Louis Marie Ghislain De Cartier De Marchienne, from Belgium, […]
Tradesman fined over asbestos release
A Birmingham handyman has been prosecuted after releasing asbestos fibres while refurbishing a kitchen at a flat in Solihull. Inspectors from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found William Rogers, a carpenter and general handyman, had removed partition walls containing asbestos insulating board at the premises. Solihull Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Rogers had wrongly assumed […]