An electrical retailer has been prosecuted for exposing its
workers to asbestos.
Stellison Ltd, based in Chelmsford, failed to protect the
health, safety and welfare of workers at a site in Harwich Road,
Colchester.
Colchester Council officials visited the firm's premises on
November 18 last year and found that staff working in the storeroom
there were being exposed to asbestos fibres. An inspector spotted
the dangerous material where asbestos insulation board, Asbestolux,
had been removed.
The company, issued with a prohibition notice to stop people
working in the room, was ordered to decontaminate the affected area
and devise a management plan to improve the workplace and reduce
the risk of staff developing
asbestos related diseases such as mesothelioma.
asbestos
related diseases such as mesothelioma
The council said Stellison had removed damaged materials which
contained asbestos in March 2007, despite the workplace being
surveyed for the cancer-causing mineral two years earlier. And the
company asked to remove it was not licensed by the Asbestos
Licensing Unit of the Health and Safety Executive.
Magistrates in Colchester fined Stellison £13,000 and ordered it
pay the prosecution costs.