Council fined £10,500 for ignoring asbestos warnings for years

A SCOTS council has been fined £10,500 for ignoring warnings for nine years about asbestos in the basement of its headquarters.

Stirling Council sent office staff to sweep, dust and move furniture about in a boiler room where pipes were lagged with the potentially deadly material.

A court heard consultants had warned the council three times about the danger in the Old Viewforth building.

The council said it is offering support to all “potentially affected” staff.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told the workers were not provided with protective clothing or masks and there was a risk they could develop asbestos-related illnesses in later life.

Prosecutor Selena Brown said the boiler room was inspected in 2003 by experts from the Institute of Occupational Medicine, who warned asbestos was present in several areas of the 1935 building.

They recommended the asbestos should be removed as soon as possible and the affected areas cleaned and decontaminated. However, no action was taken, and no warnings were issued to employees. Further surveys in 2010 and 2011 found the asbestos was still in place, with one identifying lagging on a pipe as “high-priority risk”, with an associated high potential from flying fibres.

Mrs Brown said three council employees were sent unprotected into the boiler room in February 2012 to give it a “deep clean”. She said they were given no warnings about the presence of asbestos, no masks or proper protective clothing.

Another expert survey in 2012 warned about asbestos in the boiler room. The council restricted access to the boiler room and reported itself to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which launched an investigation.

Risk assessors said that “dry brushing” could have caused asbestos fibre levels to peak at levels in excess of workplace limits. Mrs Brown said none of the employees had displayed ill-effects, and the asbestos had now been removed.

Stirling Council admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act between February 13 2003 and May 31 2012.