Asbestos firm fined £15k for working without a licence

Posted: October 2, 2014

Posted in: Asbestos Exposure Workplace Injuries 

The bosses of a Hove-based firm have recently been prosecuted after they ignored asbestos regulations and removed some of the material from a building without a licence. Asbestos Damage Limitations (ADL) had been refused a licence to remove asbestos after theirs had expired the previous month. When trying to renew it, the Health and Safety Executive declined the licence renewal based on the firm’s previous ‘inadequate performance’. Three weeks later, they continued to work on premises without a valid licence.

The case was taken to the Brighton Magistrates’ Court after the HSE had been investigating a complaint concerning an unlicensed contractor.  It was heard at court that the firm’s licence to remove asbestos had expired in September 2013, but their licence renewal was rejected by the HSE on the 1^st October. Three weeks after this, they continued to work on a building, removing a ceiling that contained asbestos insulation board.

Asbestos-related diseases cause 4,500 deaths each year

HSE Denis Bodger said after the hearing: “Work with asbestos requires a high degree of regulatory control. It involves working with a category one carcinogen, with asbestos-related diseases causing some 4,500 deaths each year in the UK, as well as many serious illnesses.”

The ADL was fined £15,000 and ordered to pay £4,000 in costs after admitting breaching Regulation 8 (1) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012.

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