Firm Fined £4,500 for Neglecting Asbestos Detection Survey at Demolition Site
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Norwegian Homes Limited pulled down the Cellar Cover Hotel at Droskyn Point, in Perranporth in July 2006, which was to host guesthouses and holiday apartments.
A visit by the HSE inspectors threw up suspected asbestos insulation boards underneath a caravan, in polythene sacks and in the ashes of a bonfire. The samples were collected from the site and sent for testing at the Health and Safety Laboratory where the presence of asbestos was confirmed.
The prosecution told the Truro Magistrates Court that the firm did not undertake any safety measures at the site even failing to provide protection to its staff.
In May 2010, Norwegian Homes pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 15 of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002. The company was asked to pay a fine of £4,500 and additional costs amounting to £11,959.
HSE Inspector Martin Lee called asbestos as one of the most dangerous industrial killers in the UK, which claim over 4,000 lives in the country annually.
He blasted Norwegian Homes for failing to conduct a pre-demolition survey at the site which would have disclosed the presence of dangerous asbestos.
Lee said the incident was “entirely preventable” and the company would have profited had the survey been done as it now has to pay more in clean-up costs.
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