10.03.2008
Fine after safety breach
A university college in Cambridge has been fined £16,000 after it admitted breaching health and safety legislation when painters at the site were exposed to asbestos.
Kings College was also ordered to pay £14,500 costs at Cambridge Magistrates' Court after it pleaded guilty to breaching the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.
The college's Clerk of Works, Geoff Cunnington, was also fined £1,000 with £500 costs after he admitted contravening the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
The prosecution was brought by the Health and Safety Executive after an incident at the college on November 29, 2006, when a number of workers, who were painting Keynes Hall Theatre, were exposed to asbestos fibres.
The HSE found that the college allowed staff to work on materials which were contaminated with the material without taking the appropriate precautions.
The court heard that the asbestos was of a type that requires people to hold an HSE licence before they can begin working on it, and such licenses can only be granted to employers who meet the standards set out in the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.
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