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The Fatal Legacy: Waste and Contamination

The asbestos problem is not restricted to the backstreet strip-it-and-tip-it merchants. In January 1995 Rolls Royce Nuclear Engineering Services Limited was fined £15,000 with £350 costs by Wolverhampton magistrates after pleading guilty to breaches of asbestos laws. A car park had been extensively contaminated with asbestos. A skip loaded with waste asbestos insulation material made a 40-mile round trip from Wolverhampton to Telford releasing fibres all the way. Two unlicensed cowboys were allowed to strip brown asbestos from old pipework.

Waste disposal can be the weakest link in the legal chain involving the removal of asbestos from buildings. There is less legal control and few inspectors available. It is illegal to dump asbestos in anything other than official licensed sites. Restrictions are greater for some types of waste than others (when asbestos content is greater than 1%).

The legal framework

Asbestos waste is covered by the Control of Pollution (Special Wastes) Regulations 1980. Asbestos removal contractors must have documentary proof they are dumping at a licensed site. Work should not go ahead unless the documents can be produced. Otherwise, the Waste Regulation Agency (Environmental Agency after 1st April 1996) and the local council's Environmental Health Department should be contacted.

Controlling asbestos waste on site

CHECKLIST

In order to deal with asbestos waste safely, the contractor should:

Removal of asbestos waste from the site

CHECKLIST

The following conditions should be observed to enable the safe removal of asbestos waste:

£28,000 fine: asbestos strewn about the site

Four members of the Smart family, all in business together, were each fined £7,000 in a Bristol Magistrates Court in March 1995, for failing to comply with an abatement notice served by Bristol Environmental Health Department requiring them to employ a specialist firm to remove asbestos from an old site. Inspectors discovered broken pieces of asbestos concrete sheet roofing strewn about the site when they visited it last December. The factory also contained asbestos lagging. A notice was served under Section 80 of the Environmental Protection Act which requires them to use a licensed contractor. They were required to: control the release of dust; or to remove and dispose of all the demolished materials which might contain asbestos. Roy Edwin Hill is to be prosecuted separately by the HSE for allegedly carrying out demolition work without a license.

Danger areas

Fly tipping

On many waste sites vast piles of rubbish are deposited by fly tippers and often ordinary looking building sites contain lethal piles of asbestos. Recent prosecutions have occurred where asbestos has been placed in dustbins outside nearby housing. Someone dumped 1.5 tonnes of asbestos by the village pond in South Ferriby.

Demolition of old factories, tower blocks, and power stations

Demolition is a particularly high risk activity. Two US studies published in January 1995 indicate the high risk to demolition workers. The first showed employers on demolition jobs did not provide protective equipment and failed to require simple procedures to protect workers against large dust exposures. No surprises there. The second study, involving health checks on 88 workers, each with at least 20 years experience in demolition, showed evidence of asbestos-related disease evident on X-rays among about 20% of those examined.

Most buildings will have some asbestos which will contaminate schools, homes and all the surrounding area if it is not removed in a controlled fashion BEFORE demolition.

In the past, campaign groups have had to protest and organise locally before the HSE and other authorities have take the risks of demolition work seriously.

When Fulham Power Station was to be demolished, local residents formed TERROR, an outspoken action group aimed at forcing the authorities to respond to their problems. Air tests showed high levels of fibre release from the site. The HSE issued a Prohibition Notice to stop work.

The Government introduced new measures to compel the Central Electricity Generating Board to remove all asbestos from disused power stations before sale and to supervise removal as a result of this campaign. At the time there were 24 more stations to be disposed of, so this was an important victory.

CHECKLIST

Waste disposal sites near homes and schools

This is a relatively new area of public concern. Often people become suspicious because of endless dusty, noisy lorries which pass through residential areas. Communities have expressed fears about the effects of waste disposal. The House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology concluded, "clearly a significant part of the waste disposal industry is cutting corners... and not all waste authorities are fulfilling their obligations to protect the public"

CHECKLIST

Landfill

Most asbestos waste is dumped in landfill sites. The Institute of Waste Management (in their Code of Practice for the Disposal of Asbestos Waste) are concerned about the subsequent disturbance of asbestos in landfill sites if sites are developed at a later date.

CHECKLIST

Redevelopment of former industrial or waste disposal sites

Asbestos is a hazard to health for people and grazing animals when still on the surface or when buried beneath abandoned industrial sites and other types of derelict and unused land. Action may have to be taken by the land owner/developer, land users or local authorities to reduce the risk. According to the Loss Prevention Council reclamation and re-use of such land can be difficult and their publication Asbestos Use in Buildings gives details of how to investigate sites and gives some information about remedial action which may need to be taken.

The HSE and the local Environmental Health Departments will need to be involved. Remedial action will be costly and could involve:

excavation, removal and disposal elsewhere excavation, then re-burial on site at greater depth covering the contaminated area with inert material or permanent hard cover

Sites that may contain asbestos

Railway land: large workshops, depots, sidings Shipbuilders, ship repairers, ship breakers' yards Other heavy engineering sites Old waste disposal sites, especially those predating current legislation (1976) Asbestos manufacturers Power stations Scrap yards

 Source: Loss Prevention Council 1993

Fires and strange snow

In September 1994 the empty British Leather tanning factory in Birkenhead, Merseyside, was set alight and blazed out of control for hours, resulting in a wide area being covered with asbestos dust and debris. Pieces of asbestos from the old corrugated roof were found among the ashes. Soot showered the neighborhood making it look as though it had snowed. After tests on the debris prompted by a worried resident, the Council eventually issued warnings to residents. Council staff toured the area with loud hailers telling people not to clear up the area themselves. Many had already cleaned cars and window sills, some did not hear the warnings and children had played in the dust.

A debate followed in the tightly knit community. The local Environmental Health Department stated that the risk from a single day's exposure was negligible and that the only danger from asbestos was from longterm exposure in the workplace. Local campaigners, led by Wirral TUC, involved solicitors and other experts who argued that any risk was unacceptable because it could have been avoided. They were especially concerned because children's lives had been put at risk. They claimed the factory owners were negligent in not removing the asbestos from a building at risk of arson and that the Council failed to warn residents in time. Legal aid has been granted for a detailed investigation into the incident and the campaigners are collecting names and statements of those affected. They want better emergency procedures and asbestos in disused buildings to be identified and removed to prevent further catastrophes.

A one-off exposure in Rotherham also demonstrates the risks for the public when asbestos is not properly controlled. In summer 1995, part of the town was covered in a fine dust which proved to be white asbestos. Again warnings not to clean it up were given only after some residents had already done so. The source of the dust was unknown. In Rotherham, as in Birkenhead, the public were told the risks to their health were low.

Fires involving large releases of asbestos have occurred in Sheffield and at Brent Cross in London. All highlight the fact that as long as asbestos remains in buildings people will be at risk.

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