Stonemasons fined over sick workers
08/02/2010
Employers who work with silica-based materials are being warned by the Health and Safety Executive to ensure they are following correct safety procedures after two men were left with lung damage.
Stonemason Wiiliam Anelay Ltd, of Murton Way, Osbaldwick, York, was fined £30,000 and ordered to pay £6,000 costs at York Crown Court after admitting breaching health and safety laws.
The prosecution comes after two employees became ill following exposure to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica between May 1994 and July 2008, the court heard.
The condition is caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment.
High levels of airborne silica had been identified 14 years earlier during a monitoring survey, but subsequent measures taken to protect employees were not adequate. As a result of the exposure, both men have been left with long-term lung damage, the court heard.
So severe are their disabilities that one of the men has since been forced to take early retirement and the other man has been unable to return to work as a stonemason.
HSE Inspector Julian Franklin said: "Had the company acted on the information they received after a survey in 1994, these men may not now be suffering from serious illnesses."
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