Self-employed Heating Engineer Fined over Asbestos Breach
Asbestos Justice has recently learned of a self-employed heating engineer who has been fined as a result of engaging in asbestos removal work at a customer’s home.
The offender attended to the removal of asbestos lagged pipework from the private dwelling without taking any health and safety precautions to prevent the house owners being exposed to harmful, airborne asbestos fibres.
Karl Locher was instructed by his customer to install a new heating system at their home. He went about removing the old pipework which was lagged with asbestos, making use of an electric saw in the process. He later moved the asbestos covered pipework through the house and discarded this on the customer’s driveway.
The Court hearing the case noted that Mr Locher had not undergone any asbestos awareness training. The Health & Safety Executive told the Court that had Mr Locher had undergone this training, he would have been aware that the lagging may have been asbestos. Had this been done, the offender would have understood that no work could be carried out at the property until the asbestos had been removed by specialist contractors to create “an asbestos free zone.”
Due to the negligence on Mr Locher’s part, the owners of the house have now had to move out of their property to allow for the decontamination of the whole house.
It is important for any worker to be aware that any work carried out on a building prior to the year 2000, which will result in the fabric of the building being disturbed, should be subjected to an Asbestos Refurbishment survey, prior to any work commencing. Had this been completed, the asbestos lagging would likely have been identified and removed safely from the customer’s property.
At Asbestos Justice, we have dealt with hundreds of mesothelioma claims where sufferers often encountered relatively low level exposure to asbestos. The incurable asbestos related cancer can develop after once instance of exposure and therefore, workers should take extra care when coming across the deadly material to protect not only themselves but their customers.
If you require assistance in pursuing a mesothelioma claim or believe you or a family member have a valid claim for asbestos compensation, please contact us today on our freephone number 0800 038 6767. Alternatively, head over to the ‘Contact Us’ page, complete the form and we will be in touch.