Two companies have been fined after asbestos was disturbed during refurbishment work.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard how two employees of 24-Hour Maintenance Services Limited disturbed asbestos insulating board (AIB) whilst they were doing refurbishment work at a former commercial premises undergoing conversion into flats, in Romford, London.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) into the incident which occurred between mid-July 2014 and 11 August 2014 found that the client had not passed on the details of the presence of asbestos to the contractor, despite prior knowledge.
No refurbishment and demolition survey was conducted to determine the presence of asbestos on the site. The two workers stripped out the AIB without any effective precautions and therefore received significant exposure to asbestos fibres.
Asbestos can be found in any building built before the year 2000. A refurbishment / demolition asbestos survey is required where the premises, or part of it, need upgrading, refurbishment or demolition. 
Firestone Estates Limited, of Tolpits Lane, Watford, Hertfordshire pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 10(1)(b) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and were fined £10,000 and were ordered to pay £1020.64 in costs with a £1,000 victim surcharge.
24-Hour Maintenance Services Limited, of Linton Avenue, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and were fined £5,000 with £974.44 in costs and a victim surcharge of £500.
For further information on http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/
 Notes to Editors:

1.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at:www.legislation.gov.uk/   
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

Inside
A. Asbestos cement Water tank
B. Pipe lagging
C. Loose fill insulation
D. Textured decorative coating eg artex
E. AIB ceiling tiles
F. AIB bath panel
G. Toilet seat and cistern
H. AIB behind fuse box
I. AIB airing cupboard and/or sprayed insulation coating boiler
J. AIB partition wall
K. AIB interior window panel  
L. AIB around boiler
M. Vinyl floor tiles
N. AIB behind fire
Outside
O. Gutters andAsbestos cement downpipes
P. Soffits – AIB or asbestos cement
Q. AIB exterior window panel
R. Asbestos cement roof
S. Asbestos cement panels
T. Roofing felt
AIB = Asbestos Insulating Board

This will be of interest if you are an Employer or have duties under the Asbestos Regulations.
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The importation, supply and use of all forms of asbestos are banned. However, many buildings, and some plant and equipment, still contain asbestos-containing materials (ACMs).
Before you start any work in a building that might contain asbestos (eg built or refurbished before the year 2000), you need to do the following:
Identify whether asbestos is present and determine its type and condition

• People responsible for maintenance of non-domestic premises, have a'duty to manage' the asbestos in them, and should provide you with information on where any asbestos is in the building and what condition it is in.
• If no information is available or it is limited and you suspect asbestos may be present you should have the area surveyed and representative samples of the material you are going to work on analysed.
• Alternatively, you can assume that any material you need to disturb does contain asbestos and take the appropriate precautions for the highest risk situation.

Carry out a risk assessment

• Decide if its possible to carry out the building or maintenance work avoiding the risk of asbestos exposure all together.
• If that's not possible, identify who might be at risk and the level of possible asbestos exposure from any work.
• On this basis, decide what work methods are necessary to provide effective control of the risks.
• Further information on carrying out a risk assessment is available.

Decide if the work needs to be carried out by a licensed contractor

• Most asbestos removal work will require a contractor holding a licence from HSE.
• All work with sprayed asbestos coatings and asbestos lagging and most work with asbestos insulation and asbestos insulating board (AIB) requires a licence.
• Identify if your work needs a licensed contractor;
• Find a licensed contractor, or find out how to apply for a licence.

If the work is not licensable, decide if the work needs to be notified

• If it doesn't need a licence, you can do maintenance work on or around ACMs with the appropriate controls in place.
• Some non-licensed work also has additional requirements, ie notification of work, medical surveillance and record keeping. This work is known asnotifiable non-licensed work (NNLW).

Ensure those carrying out the work are suitably trained

• Any worker who is liable to disturb asbestos during their day-to-day work needs to receive appropriate training to enable them to protect themselves and others.

Asbestos may be part of any commercial or domestic building which was built or refurbished before the year 2000. Asbestos can typically still be found in any of the following:

• asbestos cement products (pipes, flues, roofs etc)
• lagging (on pipes and boilers etc)
• water tanks and toilet cisterns
• asbestos insulating board (AIB – which closely resembles typical plasterboard)
• loose asbestos in ceiling and wall cavities
• sprayed coatings on ceilings, walls and beams / columns
• textured decorative coatings (commonly referred to as Artex)
• floor tiles
• textiles and composites

HSE has produced an interactive diagram which illustrates where asbestos may be found. The asbestos image gallery also provides real photographs of typical asbestos-containing materials that can still be found today.

Asbestos is responsible for over 5000 deaths every year. Younger people, if routinely exposed to asbestos fibres over time, are at greater risk of developing asbestos-related disease than older workers. This is due to the time it takes for the body to develop symptoms after exposure to asbestos (latency). Exposure to asbestos can cause four main diseases:

• Mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the lungs; it is always fatal and is almost exclusively caused by exposure to asbestos)
• Asbestos-related lung cancer (which is almost always fatal)
• Asbestosis (a scarring of the lungs which is not always fatal but can be a very debilitating disease, greatly affecting quality of life)
• Diffuse pleural thickening (a thickening of the membrane surrounding the lungs which can restrict lung expansion leading to breathlessness.)

You can get further detailed information on these diseases from the HSE website.

If you are planning any DIY home improvements, repairs or maintenance – and intend to bring in any additional builders, maintenance workers or contractors – you should inform them of any asbestos materials in your home before they start work. This will help reduce the risks of any ACMs being disturbed. HSE strongly encourages the use of trained professionals to repair or remove ACMs. If you choose to carry out DIY repairs or remove damaged asbestos materials yourself, make sure you wear the right protective equipment and follow safe working methods. For advice on doing this, see: Asbestos essentials task sheets.
In addition, please be aware that ACMs need to be legally disposed of as hazardous waste. This should not be mixed with normal household waste.

Fact 19 The World Trade Organization “considers that the evidence before it tends to show that handling chrysotile-cement products constitutes a risk to health rather than the opposite. (emphasis added)” (WTO, 2001).
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