Staff were exposed to potentially lethal asbestos while carrying out work at a school over a number of years, an investigation has revealed.
Managers of the 1,483-pupil Boswells School in Chelmsford, Essex, took the decision to convert a boiler room into a storage area for cleaning materials.
The renovations led to the disturbance of asbestos residue on walls, while caretakers also swept contaminated waste on the floors.
They were unaware of the risk until an asbestos survey was carried out after the work had been carried out.
On investigating the incident, the Health and Safety Executive found that asbestos-containing materials were present in other areas of the school.
Both contractors and caretaking staff had worked in these areas for many years without being made aware of their presence.
The areas were potentially contaminated and everyone who entered them was at risk of developing a range of serious health conditions, some of them fatal, that come from breathing in airborne asbestos fibres.
The maintenance and renovation work was badly planned and managed ineffectively, with the school failing to take adequate steps to make sure the spread of asbestos was mitigated.
The Boswells Academy Trust, of Burnham Road, Chelmsford, Essex, admitted breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Chelmsford Crown Court fined the trust £26,000 and ordered it to pay costs totalling £20,000.
“The Boswells Academy Trust should have controlled this potentially lethal risk by identifying the type, location and condition of any asbestos-containing-materials within the fabric of the school, and by implementing suitable precautions to prevent its disturbance,” said HSE inspector Glyn Davies.
“It should then have ensured that such information was shared with anyone liable to disturb this fabric. It may also have arranged for a licensed asbestos contractor to remove any dangerous asbestos safely before the commencement of any work.
“This prosecution should act as a reminder, not just to schools but to all persons in control of the repair and maintenance of non-domestic premises, of the need to ensure that a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk from asbestos is carried out, and that correct control measures are put in place to ensure that exposure to asbestos is prevented, so far as is reasonably practicable.”
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