Safety group vents fury

by Tim Wood



The Construction Safety Campaign has slammed the punishment handed out to an international car group which exposed three men to asbestos while they demolished a pavilion at one of its test centres.

The Rover Group was fined £60,000, after the men were exposed to the lethal substance while working at the Gaydon test centre in Warwickshire in April 1999. Rover was fined £15,000 for four offences - working with asbestos without a licence; failing to prevent the spread of asbestos; starting the demolition work without preparing a health and safety plan; and failing to ensure the safety of its employees while the pavilion was being knocked down.

Earlier in 1999, Rover was fined £6,000 for breaching asbestos regulations over another incident at its Longbridge site.

Tony O'Brien, CSC secretary, said he was furious at the penalty imposed especially as Warwick Crown Court could have imposed an unlimited fine. He added that the directors of Rover should have been imprisoned which is allowable under the Asbestos Licensing Regulations.

"The fine is absolutely nothing for an organisation the size of Rover - no more than pocket money" said O'Brien.

"These men, who were only doing their job, have been exposed to one of the deadliest workplace killers known and now face the threat and worry of a premature death for many years to come. A fine is not enough of a deterrent when the senior directors and managers should have known or ensured a check that asbestos was present before demolition work began."

O'Brien also questioned why individuals can be awarded large sums of money in civil actions, while giant corporations are fined such small sums that are unlikely to prevent them repeating an offence. "Only two weeks ago a doctor was awarded £1.1m damages as result of a civil action," added O'Brien. "Looking at the two sets of figures, there are terrible discrepancies in the amounts of money that are paid out. Something needs to be done to create a more level playing field."