Firms fined for asbestos exposure risk at scrap yard and naval training base
26 March 2013
The HSE has published details of a recent case regarding asbestos. A number of workers and Royal Navy personnel were exposed to asbestos after pipes lined with the dangerous material were left on a roadside before being put in an open skip and transferred to a salvage yard, a court has heard.
The pipes, lined with asbestos insulation, were removed from HMS Sultan naval training base in Gosport in September 2009 as part of works to replace a hot water system. The subsequent HSE investigation identified that both VT Flagship and PPSL had failed to identify the presence of asbestos in the pipes as a result of inaccurate assumptions and failures to undertake thorough checks and surveys.
HSE also established that employees from both companies, as well as workers from the salvage yard, the welder and pipe fitter sub-contracted by PPSL plus anyone in the vicinity of the contaminated pipes, including passing Navy personnel, could justly be deemed 'at risk' to asbestos exposure.
For more on this story visit hse.gov.uk/press/2013/rnn-se-06213.htm