HSE warning after hospital trust fined over asbestos

Published on Tue 30 Oct 2007

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a warning to employers after St George's Healthcare NHS Trust was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,432 for breaching Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2002 (CAR 2002).

Regulation 4 states:

"An employer shall not carry any work which exposes or is liable to expose any of his employees to asbestos" unless either -

1. before commencing that work, he has identified, by analysis or otherwise, the type of asbestos involved in the work; or

2. he has assumed that the asbestos is (not chrysotile alone) and for the purposes of these Regulations has treated it accordingly.

CAR 2002 was superseded by an updated set of regulations in October 2006 but the offence was noted prior to these new regulations coming into force.

An investigation found that St George's Trust failed to implement a proper asbestos management system and allowed staff and contractors to work on areas that contained asbestos despite being aware of its presence.

Hazel McCallum, HSE Inspector, said:

"It is disappointing when large organisations such as the Trust put people at risk by not taking a responsible approach. The risks associated with exposure to airborne asbestos fibres are well known and the measures required to control it are easily achievable".