individual contractors removing asbestos without holding the necessary
licences face prosecution. This follows the HSE prosecution of Roger
Lee Lavender, managing director of Secal Laser Ltd, for the unlicensed
removal of asbestos insulation boards from the company's Telford
factory. Surveys, conducted in 2004 and 2007, clearly stated that
removal of the asbestos from the factory would need to be carried out
by a licensed asbestos company. Yet despite admitting knowledge of
the 2004 survey, Roger Lavender authorised the unlicensed removal of
the identified asbestos and instructed his own employees to carry out
the work.
On 8th April 2009 he was fined £6,666 and ordered to pay costs of
£11,039.88 at Shrewsbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to failing
to ensure that work was undertaken by a licensed company and failure
to ensure the safety of his employees.
The court heard that although he was aware of the presence of asbestos
and the associated dangers, Lavender instructed two of his employees
to remove asbestos insulation boards from within the factory at
Halesfield 5, Telford. The court also heard that the work, if done in
accordance with the regulations, would have cost in the region of
£40,000 and caused severe disruption to the business. The way in which
the work was actually done exposed his own employees to the risk of
inhaling asbestos fibres.
Speaking after the case, HSE inspector Guy Dale said: "Roger Lavender
says that he read the 2004 asbestos survey and therefore should have
been aware of the dangers of inhaling asbestos fibres if the material
was disturbed. That asbestos survey made it clear that any removal of
the material was dangerous and must be carried out by licensed
specialists. However, Mr Lavender allowed his employees to be exposed
to the serious risk of inhaling a 'Class 1 carcinogen' that can cause
mesothelioma and lung cancer.
"Those responsible for employees ordinarily have a legal duty to
protect their health and safety but in the case of asbestos they
should know that any disturbance of such a dangerous material should
only be tackled by licensed workers".
Exposure to asbestos is the biggest single cause of work-related
deaths, with around 4,000 people a year dying from asbestos-related
disease. The overall number of deaths is rising because a large
number of workers who have already been exposed to asbestos dust
around 40 years ago will go on to develop mesothelioma, a terminal
cancer or other asbestos related diseases.
In Shropshire alone around one person every 12 weeks dies a painful
death from Mesothelioma and these deaths are almost exclusively people
who have previously been exposed to asbestos. The number of
asbestos-related workplace deaths exceeds the figure of deaths in road
accidents but many workers, particularly tradesmen, think that they
are not personally at risk of exposure to asbestos or the diseases it
can cause. They think that since asbestos was banned many years ago,
the problem has been dealt with and therefore it is not relevant to
them. The reality is very different.
Even today asbestos presents a real and relevant risk to plumbers,
joiners, electricians and many other maintenance workers. Asbestos
may be present in any building constructed or refurbished before the
year 2000 and it is estimated that around 500,000 non-domestic
buildings could contain asbestos. These buildings all need repair and
maintenance work from time to time and when the asbestos fibres are
disturbed e.g. by drilling or cutting, they are likely to be inhaled
as a deadly dust.
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