Marks and Spencer fined £1m for asbestos breaches at two of its stores
Environmental compliance news – by GreenWise staff
28th September 2011
Marks and Spencer (M&S) has been fined £1 million for asbestos breaches at two of its stores.
The
Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said yesterday that
M&S along with three other companies had been fined over the breaches, which could have put shoppers, staff and construction workers at risk at two of its stores in
Reading and
Bournemouth.
The prosecution was brought about following refurbishments works at the two stores in 2006 and 2007. HSE claimed that contractors had not been given "enough time and space" to carry out the asbestos removal work safely. Asbestos is a hazardous material and the single biggest cause of work-related deaths in the UK.
"Lamentable"
Judge Christopher Harvey Clark QC told Bournemouth Crown Court the retail giant appeared to be more interested in profits than in following proper procedures. He described the incident at the Reading store, when a ceiling containing the cancer-causing material fell to the floor. as "lamentable" and that visitors to the store had a right to be feel "anxious as to whether they had breathed in the asbestos fibres".
An M&S spokesperson said: "We are very disappointed with the result of this case, as we believe that we have always acted responsibly and with a safety first attitude."
As well as the fine, M&S was ordered to pay costs of £600,000. PA Realisations Ltd, Styles & Wood Limited and Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd were also fined and ordered to pay costs. Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd is applying for permission to appeal against conviction.
"This outcome should act as a wake up call that any refurbishment programmes involving asbestos-containing materials must be properly resourced, both in terms of time and money - no matter what," Richard Boland, HSE's southern head of operations for Construction, said after sentencing.
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