The exposure occurred in July 2012 after a worker removed part of a suspended ceiling in one of the ground floor refurbished rooms at St Mary鈥檚 school and identified suspect asbestos-containing materials. Asbestos fibres were subsequently found in numerous areas in the school.
The court heard that the London Borough of Waltham Forest had a contract with NPS London Limited to manage development and refurbishment of its estate. At the time of the incident the principal contractor for the work was Mansell Construction Services (now integrated into Balfour Beatty) and the subcontractor was Squibb Group Limited.
A Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that although an asbestos survey was completed, there were multiple caveats and disclaimers that were not appropriately checked.
Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Limited (previously Mansell Construction Services Limited) of Canary Wharf, London, was fined 拢500,000 and ordered to pay costs of 拢32,364.84 after pleading guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
NPS London Limited, of Business Park Norwich, Norfolk, was fined 拢370,000 and ordered to pay 拢32,364.84 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
Squibb Group Limited, of Stanford Le Hope, Essex, was fined 拢400,000 and ordered to pay costs of 拢175,000 after being found guilty after a trial of a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.
HSE inspector Sarah Robinson said: 鈥淭he principal contractor and contractors on site did not review the survey report in detail, and did not take into consideration the multitude of caveats. Therefore the work undertaken did not adopt the high standards of control expected for working where there was the potential to expose workers to asbestos.鈥�
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