Worker seriously burned
A contracting firm was sentenced today after workers at a major renovation site in Plymouth were exposed to asbestos containing material.
The company was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay £3,064 in costs in a case brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The incident happened when employees were working on the refurbishment of three student blocks at in Plymouth.
The company had agreed with a specialist asbestos removal company that they would work simultaneously in parts of the building already cleared by the asbestos removal workers.
However, the builders began work in an area of the building which had not been cleared of asbestos. Four employees were exposed to fibres and had to go through a specialist decontamination process.
The company pleaded guilty to exposing four employees to asbestos and was fined £5,000 for each charge.
HSE inspector said:
"This incident could have been avoided if an adequate risk assessment had been made before the work started and communicated clearly to the workforce.”
Updated on 9/20/2011