Clapper, Patti, Schweizer and Mason

High street retailer Woolworths was ordered to pay £40,000 in fines for exposing its staff to lethal asbestos dust in two Devon stores. The exposure happened at two different Woolworth branches, Bideford and Tiverton, after a contractor was hired to remove asbestos ceiling tiles. LCH Contacts LTD was hired as experts to do the refurbishment in April of 2004. They were supposed to erect ceiling to floor polythene tents before removing the tiles, however failed to do so, causing asbestos dust to spread on stocks and shelves.   

 

Asbestos was common in many building materials used in construction prior to 1980, and often was added to ceiling tiles. When left intact and undisturbed, these materials do not pose a health risk to occupants in the area. The potential for exposure is when the hazardous material becomes damaged or is disturbed because then it is more likely to release fibers. Asbestos, when inhaled, is an extremely dangerous material that causes serious and fatal conditions such as mesothelioma, asbestos, and lung cancer. 

 

Exeter Crown Court Judge Neligan said Woolworths failed to tell their staff of the risk and failed to take sufficient steps to prevent exposure to asbestos containing materials. According to the judge, “LCH failed to reduce or prevent asbestos exposure and did nothing to stop the dust and debris getting into other parts of the buildings. The breaking up of the tiles released fibers and dust into the air spreading in an uncontrolled manner throughout the stores with the risk of contamination to anyone in the store and the closer people were to the work the higher the risk of that contamination. The methods employed did not minimize the spread of dust and LCH left Woolworth employees to clean up the dust and debris.” 

 

Woolworth staff reported that they were left to clean asbestos fibers and dust off of stock and shelves after the contractor removed the ceiling tiles, and then told to open to the public the next morning. The court was told that staff were exposed to dust for 10 days and that samples taken three months later still revealed the presence of asbestos dust.

 

The Court found that Woolworths and LCH failed to take adequate steps to protect their staff from exposure to asbestos.   However, there is no current evidence of injury to the Woolworth employees as asbestos related diseases can take up to 40 years to manifest.