Council to pay out £50,000+ after failings over asbestos in schools

A council has been ordered to pay out more than £50,000 for what the Health & Safety Executive described as “a clear example of a local authority failing to manage asbestos across its schools for a number of years”.

A specialist contractor hired by Thurrock Council in 2004 to conduct an asbestos survey said dust and debris containing asbestos fibres found in a boiler room at Stifford Clays Junior School should be removed immediately under licensed conditions.

An inspection by the HSE in April 2010 as part of a national initiative tackling asbestos management in schools discovered that no action had been taken.

Staff and contractors had regularly entered the boiler room during the intervening six-year period.

The HSE served a prohibition notice on 24 April 2010, barring entry into the room until it was made safe.

The council was also served with two improvement notices regarding asbestos management in schools elsewhere in its area.

At Basildon Crown Court last week Thurrock was fined £35,000 and ordered to pay £15,326 in costs after pleading guilty to a Regulation 10 breach of the Control of Asbestos Regulations (CAR 2006) and a breach of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 - both in relation to failings across the school estate.

The local authority also admitted a Regulation 11 breach of the Control of Asbestos Regulations (CAR 2006) in relation to the specific incident at Stifford Clays Junior School.

HSE inspector Samantha Thomson, said: "This was a clear example of a local authority failing to manage asbestos across its schools for a number of years.

"At Stifford Clays Junior School, the caretaker regularly worked in the boiler room with dust and debris over a period of six years. She will have been exposed to asbestos fibres and now faces an anxious wait to see if it results in any long-term health issues.”

Thomson added: "This was easily preventable. Thurrock Council was informed of the potential for exposure in 2004, yet failed to act on the knowledge until HSE's involvement some six years later."