Organisations are being urged to have “robust asbestos management system in place” after workers were exposed to dangerous fibres at an eye hospital in Sunderland.
Contractors were doing maintenance work at Sunderland Eye Infirmary at the end of March last year when it emerged that door surrounds they were drilling through in order to install cables were made of asbestos insulating board.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) carried out an investigation into the incident and why the workers had not been warned about the hidden dangers lurking in the infirmary.
The HSE discovered that officials at the City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust knew about the existence of asbestos in the door surrounds and failed to pass on the information to the contractors.
While asbestos insulating board is not a health risk unless it has been damaged or worked on, drilling the boards causes dangerous asbestos fibres to be released into the air.
A court hearing took place at Sunderland Magistrates' Court recently during which City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust admitted they were guilty of breaching strict asbestos regulations that state that they must ensure that “information about the location and condition of any asbestos or any such substance is provided to every person liable to disturb it.”
City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust were fined £3,000 and ordered to pay an additional £4,582.40 in costs.
“This incident was entirely preventable and highlights the importance of having a robust asbestos management system in place,” said HSE inspector Shuna Rank on the independent regulator’s website.
“City Hospitals Sunderland had put considerable resources into identifying where asbestos was in the hospital buildings but failed to have efficient procedures in place to ensure the information was passed to the contractors.
“As a result workers drilled through the asbestos-containing material, potentially exposing themselves, hospital staff and members of the public to dangerous fibres.
“There need to be systems in place to ensure that all workers are aware of where asbestos is if their work is likely to bring them into contact with asbestos-containing materials.”