Asbestos News: Lisburn Firm Fined For Exposing Workers to Asbestos

12 May 2016

Asbestos continues to make headlines in Ireland. Many individuals and small businesses try to handle things themselves instead of following the proper protocols regarding asbestos. Some do this because they perceive the costs of proper asbestos inspection and removal to be too high, but the costs of fines can well exceed the costs of doing things the right way.

A Belfast company called JDM property limited was contracted to carry out renovations for the Devenish Complex. The company is a small family run business, and they failed to have an asbestos survey conducted prior to beginning the renovations.

Asbestos was disturbed in two different parts of the building as a result. They received a total of three health and safety breaches. These include failing to protect non employees, failing to identify risks, and conducting work which resulted in employees being exposed to asbestos. The legal representative of the company stated that they "somewhat naively thought they were capable ... of carrying out the refurbishment themselves" instead of bringing in professional subcontractors.

Regardless of whether it was truly naiveté or they were simply trying to save money, the mistake cost them  £9,000 in fines as well as £1,700 in legal costs. There are no shortcuts around the laws regarding asbestos. They were put in place to keep people safe from asbestos exposure. Not following them can cost someone their health, as well as a considerable amount of money.

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