14 Sep 2011
A local authority has been prosecuted for its role in a bathroom conversion job which ended up contaminating the area with asbestos.
Workers from Belton Developments disturbed the cancer-causing mineral at a council flat in Lincolnshire.
They were tasked with turning a bathroom into a wetroom but they inadvertently removed insulation board riddled with asbestos, carried it through the flat and the communal living areas of a housing complex in an open wheelbarrow. The boards were then dumped in an open-top van.
A site surveyor saw what was happening and intervened, stopping the work. He then had to call in a contractor who was icensed to work with asbestos to decontaminate the area and check the air for any presence of the dangerous material.
Magistrates in Grantham were told that the local authority responsible for contracting the work, South Kesteven District Council, did not give Belton enough information about the presence of asbestos in the flat.
The council, which admitted breaking the law, also failed to ensure the company was competent in working with the substance.
Magistrates handed the local authority a £16,600 fine and ordered it pay prosecution costs of £3,468.
Belton Developments also admitted the offences and was fined £3,003 and told to pay £900 costs.
Copyright Press Association 2011