From a recent HSE Press Release
"Bestoff Services Ltd of Chorleywood, Hertfordshire pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. They were fined £3,000, ordered to pay costs of £2091.70 and a victim surcharge of £15.
The company carried out an asbestos survey on a site at Unit 27, Nuffield Way, Abingdon in February 2008 and reported that the site contained no asbestos. Two members of staff began work on the site the following month and part of their job involved removing panels of fibrous board."
Full details are available at:
Company fined after inaccurate asbestos survey leads to exposureA lot of money has been made by companies carrying out asbestos surveys in recent years - not all of these surveys have been done competently. Occasionally someone gets caught out - but I'm sure a lot don't.
The HSE has tried to regulate asbestos consultancy companies by insisting on accreditation. I have never been convinced that this was the right way to address the problem. Some companies who are competent to carry out surveys and have the professional integrity to ensure that they are done properly, but who don't carry out asbestos work exclusively, find the cost of accreditation prohibitive and so pull out of the market. On the other hand, there is no guarantee that that companies who can jump all the hurdles created by UKAS and are prepared to carry the costs involved, will carry out the surveys competently in practice or that they adopt professional standards with respect to reporting their findings.
Fortunately, in the case concerned, the client company were interested in their employees' health and took the appropriate action once they became suspicious.
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