Bristol College and Charity exposes students to killer dieses in school-boy error

 

 A Bristol college and local charity has been fined after both exposed students to deadly asbestos risks.

 

The City of Bristol College and Barton Hill Settlement both pleaded guilty at Bristol Magistrates Court to breaching sections of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

 

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the college and charity after a team of volunteers working at the ‘Dug Out’ in Barton Hill were exposed to asbestos-containing material during a project in February 2005

 

The College was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay costs of more than £18,000.

 

Barton Hill Settlement Limited was fined £4000 and ordered to pay costs of £6,000.

 

The college project was part of the Princes Trust Team Programme. The students became exposed to asbestos when removing a partition wall using hand tools and electric sanding machines. This caused the release of large amounts of potentially deadly dust and the further contamination of the premises.

 

Asbestos was not addressed in the risk assessment for the project.

 

Any building built before the year  2000 may contain asbestos, a building material used extensivley from the 1950s through to the mid-1980s. The material in good condition is safe, unless damaged and causing fibres to become airbourne.

 

When the fibres are inhaled they can cause serious diseases which are responsible for around 4000 deaths a year.

 

The three main asbestos related diseases are mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis.

 

HSE inspector Simon Edwards said: “Working on or near damaged asbestos-containing materials or breathing in high levels of asbestos fibres can increase the chance of getting an asbestos-related disease.

 

“Everyone is continuously exposed to a low level of asbestos fibres to some extent because asbestos was such a widely used material within buildings, machinery, vehicle brakes and homes until 1999, when most forms of asbestos were banned. However, working directly with asbestos containing materials – as the Princes Trust volunteers were doing in this case – can give personal exposures to airborne asbestos that are much higher than environmental levels.

 

“Consequently, to avoid additional exposure caused by work place activities, the law requires the prevention or control (where prevention is not reasonably practicable) of exposure to asbestos from work activities and where this is not done, HSE will not hesitate to take robust enforcement action.”