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A building contractor has been fined after its workers were exposed to
asbestos fibres during refurbishment work at a premises in Swansea, South
Wales.

Swansea magistrates heard on 27 October that principal contractor J C Irvine
was carrying out the refurbishment work without having conducted an asbestos
refurbishment and demolition survey before the work started, which would have
enabled it to properly plan the work.

The court was told that, between 27 April and 12 May 2010,
asbestos-containing materials were disturbed by ...

Asbestos compliance checks which were carried out between November 2010 and June 2011 show that 17% of schools have not implemented adequate asbestos management. The compliance checks were carried out at 164 voluntary aided and foundation schools and also academies. The 17% failure shows that 28 out of the 164 schools had inadequate management plans, however, another 110 schools received formal advice on how there was room for improvement with regards to their management plans. Enforcement action taken against the ...

A STANMORE landlord has been forced to fork out nearly £7,000 after dumping
asbestos in an alleyway used by residents and children.

The hazardous waste was fly-tipped in the alleyway just 300 yards away from
the property it was removed from by landlord Abdul Hamid Rashid Bowar.

The 50-year-old, of Woodcroft Avenue, pleaded guilty to two offences under
the Environmental Protection Act of failing to ensure the proper disposal of the
asbestos waste and failing to keep records.

He had previously pleaded not ...

Deaths from a cancer caused by asbestos dust are at an all-time high, research by BBC Look East has revealed.

Since the 1980s, the male death rate from mesothelioma has increased more than four-fold in the east of England.

The increase outstripped those in Scotland and Wales and in all but one English region, according to figures from the Health and Safety Executive.

In Essex alone, coroners recorded 115 verdicts of death from industrial diseases in 2010.

That figure includes Thurrock and Southend, ...

The family of a man from Cheltenham who died as a result of being exposed to asbestos more than 60 years earlier has been awarded £92,000.

William Evans died from mesothelioma, a form of cancer associated with asbestos, earlier this year.

He worked for AW Hawksley Ltd, a subsidiary of BAE Systems Pensions Funds Investment Management, in Gloucester between 1947 and 1950.

His job involved drilling into asbestos sheets used in pre-fabricated houses.

Mr Evans’ family sued BAE Systems and the firm accepted ...