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A utility services company has been prosecuted after four electricians were exposed to absestos during work at Anderson Tower in Motherwell.
IQA Operations Group Ltd of 101 Abercorn Street, Paisley, has been fined £6,000 after pleading guilty to a breach of Section 2 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.
Hamilton Sheriff Court heard how the four workers started drilling through door transom panels to fit electric cables into each property within the tower block as part of the installation of a new low voltage distribution system.
The electricians drilled holes in the door transom panels in all 44 flats. They were not aware that the panels contained asbestos so no measures were in place to control exposure to airborne asbestos fibres.
IQA had identified that an asbestos survey was carried out ahead of the works starting, however this did not include a survey of the transom panels above each flat entrance door.
A resident of the tower raised concerns the panels were asbestos. Work was stopped and the were panels tested, with samples testing positive for asbestos. Immediate action was taken to decontaminate the flats which involved the local council making arrangements for the residents to leave their properties while the work was being done.
A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found IQA failed to provide and maintain a safe system of work to identify the presence of asbestos in the transom panels, as well as failing to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of risk to their employees from asbestos when carrying out cable routing work.
Speaking after the hearing, Gerry Muir HM Inspector of Health and Safety said: "This incident could have easily been avoided if the company had in place a system of work to ensure that the asbestos survey it requested to be carried out covered all of the intended work areas.
"Failing to do this resulted in 44 asbestos panels being drilled into with no measures in place to control the risk of exposure to the resultant asbestos fibres."
(LM)
