Upholstery firm fined after exposing workers to asbestos
A ROCHDALE re-upholstery firm and one of its directors have been fined £40,000 after workers were exposed to potentially-deadly asbestos fibres for nearly five years.
Mansfield Soft Furnishings and David Mansfield were prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after up to 30 employees were exposed to the airborne fibres at Meadowcroft Mill on Bury Road.
Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester was told the company, which refurbishes furniture for pubs, restaurants and hotels, had moved into a unit at the mill in September 2007 and created a mezzanine storage area in the eaves of the roof.
Workers put foam for furniture in the storage space, often placing it on the beams and underside of the roof, which it later emerged contained asbestos. As employees dragged the foam through the eaves before throwing it down onto the floor, fine layers of asbestos dust were released into the air.
The court heard a HSE inspector visited the company in June 2012 on a separate issue but noticed the material on the roof of the mezzanine looked similar to sprayed asbestos and was in a poor condition. The inspector issued an Improvement Notice after discovering Mansfield had failed to arrange for an asbestos survey to be carried out, despite employees raising concerns that asbestos may be present.
When a survey was eventually completed, it revealed asbestos was present in the roof, and fibres were likely to have been spread throughout the building as the foam was dragged down and taken through the workshop.
As a result, HSE served the company with a Prohibition Notice on July 10 2012 banning access to the building until it had been decontaminated. However, Mr Mansfield and another worker re-entered the building at about 8pm on the same day to remove furniture worth approximately £25,000 so it could be delivered to a client, breaching the notice.
Mansfield Soft Furnishings was fined £30,000 after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Health and Safety at Work Act and failing to comply with the Prohibition Notice.
David Mansfield, 48, of Northolt Fold in Heywood, was fined £10,000 after admitting that he deliberately breached the Prohibition Notice. The co-defendants were also ordered to pay joint costs of £20,000.
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Inspector David Norton said: “Workers at Mansfield Soft Furnishings will have to live the rest of their lives knowing they’re at risk of contracting a deadly lung disease because of the actions of their employer.
“The company should have arranged for an asbestos survey to be carried out before moving into the building, but it failed to do this even after some workers raised concerns.”
