A school in Essex has been fined after school staff and others were exposed to asbestos during poorly managed and planned maintenance and refurbishment activities.

Last week, Chelmsford Crown Court head how managers at The Boswells School in Chelmsford were in the process of converting an old boiler room at the school into a cleaning store.

While this work was being carried out, asbestos residue on the room walls was disturbed and caretakers swept the contaminated debris from the floors.

The poorly managed work was only exposed after an asbestos survey was carried out in the area.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) investigated the incident and also found materials containing asbestos in other areas.

For many years school caretaking staff and contractors disturbed the school buildings’ fabric without knowing about the presence of asbestos, while the school also failed to make sure that the spread of asbestos was reduced or prevented.

Anyone who entered the potentially contaminated areas was put at risk of developing serious health problems due to the exposure to airborne respirable asbestos fibres.

The Boswells Academy Trust, of Burnham Road, Chelmsford, Essex, pleaded guilty to a breach of Sections 2 (1) and 3 (1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, resulting in the trust being fined £26,000 and made to pay £20,000 in costs.

Glyn Davies, HSE inspector said that the trust should have identified the type, condition and location of any materials containing asbestos throughout the school to ensure that the potentially lethal risk was controlled.

Davies added: “It should then have ensured that such information was shared with anyone liable to disturb this fabric. It may also have arranged for a licensed asbestos contractor to remove any dangerous asbestos safely before commencement of any work.”

He also commented that this prosecution should be seen as an example to others about planning work more thoroughly in future.