NHS trust ordered to pay £90k over asbestos management failings

An NHS Trust was earlier this month ordered to pay almost £90,000 in fines and costs after being found likely to have exposed workers to asbestos material for more than a decade at its three hospitals.

An investigation by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) found that – between April 2000 and December 2011 – the estates team at West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was maintaining buildings at Watford General Hospital, Hemel Hempstead Hospital and St Albans Hospital without knowing that asbestos was present or being trained to identify and control exposure.   

“The estates team, whose work is to carry out small repairs and maintenance projects where external contractors are not needed, could have disturbed asbestos fibres in the course of a job, but would have had no way of knowing or of protecting themselves,” the HSE said.

When additional surveys were carried out in December 2011, the trust realised more asbestos was present at all three hospitals than initially identified. Neither the newly identified asbestos nor the material that had originally been identified were being managed.

The trust notified the HSE and immediately put control measures in place after the survey results came back. “Unfortunately, the extended lack of awareness reiterated that it had caused workers to potentially be exposed over a significant period of time, which constituted a major failure on its part,” the HSE said.

Following its investigation, the watchdog prosecuted the NHS trust. At St Albans Crown Court the trust was fined £55,000 and ordered to pay £34,078 in costs after pleading guilty to four breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and a single breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. 

HSE Inspector Sandra Dias said: “Employers have a duty to protect their staff from the long term health risks associated with asbestos, which include lung cancer and mesothelioma.

“This duty includes finding out whether the premises contains asbestos, assessing the risks and making a plan to manage that risk and act on it.”

She added: “West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust did not adequately manage the risk over an 11-year period. As a result, a number of its employees will now have to spend the rest of their lives not knowing whether they have been exposed. We all hope that none will suffer as a result.”