In UK: ICBS, Director, Fined for Asbestos Violations

ICBS, Director, Fined for Asbestos Violations

Industrial & Commercial Building Services Ltd (ICBS) of Stockport and its Managing Director, Kevin Bennett of Marple, have been fined after company workers were exposed to asbestos while tearing down a section of the Recon Packaging recycling facility on Bower Street in Miles Platting, a district within the city of Manchester.

Both ICBS and Bennett pleaded guilty to violating Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974, and Regulation 3 of the Asbestos Licensing Regulations Rules established in 1983. Each was fined £2,000.

The work at Recon occurred in the early part of 2006, after a May 2005 fire caused extensive damage to the plant. The building, which contained considerable quantities of asbestos, never received a site assessment and ICBS was not licensed to remove it in any case.
In spite of that, Recon contracted with ICBS for demolition. Recon itself has been ordered to pay £8,000 after its own plea of guilty in the matter, £3,000 in fines and another £5,000 in costs - a fine levied by Trafford Magistrates' Court.

These fines come just weeks after Noble Gift Packaging was fined £60,000 for exposing members of the public to asbestos during work at its warehouse in Brimsdown, Enfield, in east London.

The Noble work was performed by A & T Roofing, which was also fined £25,000 and ordered to pay costs of £33,844 by Southwark Crown Court for having allowed its workers to spend 3 months removing the roof of the Noble building, which was lined with 3,000 square meters of asbestos insulating board.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, or HSE, a UK worker safety regulatory agency, A & T was advised early on that workmen were being exposed to brown asbestos (or amosite) during the roof teardown project, but let the work continue anyway, exposing all the workers and a considerable number of pedestrians to the dangers of asbestos. In addition, workers were not provided with respirators or protective clothing even after the amosite was positively identified.

Asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a particularly lethal form of cancer with a long onset, typically twenty years but up to fifty years in some cases.

Mesothelioma, which attacks the mesothelial linings of the heart (pericardium), lungs (pleura), or abdomen (peritoneum), occurs most commonly as malignant pleural mesothelioma and, in the absence of definitive symptoms, is seldom diagnosed until the cancer has invaded vital tissues and organs to such an extent that little can be done to stop it.

Most victims of malignant pleural mesothelioma are given between one year and 18 months to live, though 10 percent - if diagnosed early and treated aggressively with surgery, multiple chemotherapy, and sometimes radiation - have been known to survive up to five years.

The ICBS violation was discovered on April 13, 2006, after which HSE halted demolition and instituted proceedings. The recent ICBS/Recon fines come just days before HSE's planned launch of a £1.2-million campaign to raise awareness among workers and industry to the dangers presented by asbestos, which the HSE describes as, "the single biggest industrial killer in Britain", with about 4,000 UK residents dying every year as a result of asbestos exposure.

This (4,000 dead from asbestos per year), notes the HSE, is more people than die from traffic accidents, yet workplace violations continue, even though companies are required to ensure that a Type 3 asbestos survey is carried out before any demolition or renovation work takes place, and that any asbestos discovered must subsequently be removed by an appropriately licensed contractor before work can commence.

Sources: Health and Safety Executive website, Packaging News, Medical News Today

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