Greater Glasgow Health Board fined for exposing people to asbestos

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, or Greater Glasgow Health Board, admitted breaching the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 in a hearing at Glasgow Sherriff Court brought by the Health and safety Executive on December 20th. The failings, which occurred over a seven-year period, could also have put the board at risk of asbestos personal injury claims originating from Southern General Hospital's neurology plant and switch room.

Generally, personal injury Blackburn solicitors deal with medical negligence claims from the healthcare sector, but the number of safety failings that can occur in hospitals is numerous. Employees, patients and visitors can be injured in slips, trips and falls, be burnt, struck by moving objects, or can be subjected to criminal injuries, with workplace safety failings in hospitals leading to a wide range of incidents.

The room had undergone three separate Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM) surveys, which found that the ceiling posed a high risk of asbestos, advising that it should be removed and the area subjected to environmental cleaning.

Although the health board was informed of the problems after each ACM, it took no action.

Proposals in March 2011 saw a specialist company perform an ACM survey in regards to a plan to install electrical equipment in the plant room. This discovered that there were a number of highly-damaged ACMs and ACM debris in the ceiling, with this posing a "high risk".

Background monitoring tests revealed the air was contaminated as a result of unsealed asbestos debris, and a later investigation by the Health and Safety Executive revealed that since the initial 2004 survey, the health board had not taken any action, and the contamination was a result of this failure. It had also insufficiently monitored the ACMs; if it had done, it would have seen that they posed a high risk.

The risk of personal injury claims has been avoided and the health and safety issue has been dealt with, the court was told, hearing that the area has been environmentally cleaned and the ACMs removed. Furthermore, Greater Glasgow Health Board has also reviewed its policy for the management of asbestos, created an employment position to deal with the asbestos workplace safety risk, and improved staff training.

The health board was fined £10,000 after admitting to breaching section 4(10)(b) of the Control of Asbestos Regulations. This specific section relates to the implementation of measures specified in asbestos control plans.

Health and Safety Executive Inspector Aileen Jardine pointed out there is no "safe limit" under which asbestos fibre exposure is safe, and that asbestos-related health conditions can take a long time to become apparent.

Therefore, it is important for businesses to keep asbestos fibre exposure to the "absolute minimum", she added.

Ms Jardine said Glasgow Health Board exposed external contractors and employees to dangerous asbestos fibres over several years because it failed to properly manage the hazards of asbestos.

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