A specialist asbestos removal company has been fined after exposing workers to dangerous fibres during the demolition of a former school building.

On Tuesday (27 May), Lincoln Magistrates' Court heard that in March 2012, Angus Group Ltd did not properly manage the removal of asbestos-containing materials at the site of the former Ermine Infants' School at Thoresway Drive, Lincoln.

An investigation was carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after inspectors visited the site. A catalogue of safety breaches were discovered.

Angus Group Ltd were sub-contracted to carry out the asbestos removal work on behalf of the contractors demolishing the school, which was owned by Lincolnshire County Council. The site was being demolished after the school buildings were replaced by a new school.

Before work on the project started, an asbestos survey was carried out to identify the areas in the building containing asbestos, and recommending how this was to be treated to ensure safe removal. The survey found the end walls of the school's main hall were covered in a spray-applied coating of asbestos, and should therefore be removed by a licensed contractor under safe, controlled conditions.

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These recommendations were ignored by Angus Group Ltd. Instead, the asbestos spray coating was chiselled off using power tools without the use of any screens, enclosures or air extraction systems in place, while the asbestos-containing material was bagged and carried to a skip outside.

Angus Group Ltd notified the main contractors that the asbestos removal work on the main hall was finished, but when the project agents and main contractors visited the site the following day, they found the hall covered in dust while patches of asbestos material still remained on the wall.

The court heard that a number of failings were discovered by HSE as to the way the project had been planned and undertaken. For example, the exact location of asbestos material had not been identified and the work only took one day to complete rather than the planned seven. Risk assessments were also too generic; enclosures, segregation and containment measures were inadequate; plans lacked detail; access and transit routes through the buildings weren't clear and employees lacked specific instruction, while there was no reference to the original asbestos survey in the plan.

HSE concluded that the firm's safeguards to control the asbestos risks were seriously inadequate, leading to an unnecessary release and spread of dangerous asbestos fibres and dust.

In addition, the plan and risk assessment for the asbestos removal work in the building's boiler room were also found to be confused and a decontamination unit was not powered. A prohibition notice to halt the work on the boiler room was served until the unit was properly powered and working.

Of the 17 samples taken in and around the hall, 15 tested positive for asbestos. A later analysis, which included other parts of the building, found asbestos fibres in 15 of 34 samples, indicating asbestos had spread throughout the building.

Angus Group Ltd of Neilson Road, Paisley, Scotland, was found guilty of eight breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006, and was fined a total of £109,000 and ordered to pay a further £42,100 in costs.

(JP/IT)