Officials blamed for asbestos scare

The report says there had been "endemic" failures at Wear Valley District Council, which led to a report warning about dangerous fibres being buried for years and staff left to work in ignorance.

The council was fined £18,000 last year for failing to deal with asbestos found in the swimming pool's boiler room, at Woodhouse Close Leisure Complex, in Bishop Auckland - even though inspectors warned them about the health risk in 2001.

The breach came to light five years later when a worker contacted the Health and Safety Executive after learning that bosses ignored the report.

Following the court case, councillors agreed to hold an urgent inquiry into what went wrong. The report found:

* No management plan on how to deal with dangers posed by asbestos in council buildings between 2001 and 2005;

* No detailed records of any staff training;

* No evidence to show that a report that warned of asbestos was ever distributed to department heads or line managers;

* Confusion over who was ultimately responsible for ensuring staff were protected from asbestos dangers;

* A failure to warn staff about the presence of asbestos and the availability of a register pointing out where the fibres were present;

* A communications breakdown that left staff in the dark about the impact of new asbestos control regulations;

* No overall plan for the effective management of workplace asbestos between 2002 and 2006;

* Protective equipment was available but staff were either unaware of it or did not know how to use it;

* When the council facilities manager was asked if a new asbestos survey was needed in 2004, he replied: "All public buildings were surveyed in 2001-02, being as no further additional building alterations have been undertaken since this date there has been no reason to carry out further surveys."

The report blames an "endemic failure within the authority in general, rather than an isolated incident that was limited to Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre"

And it adds: "The review of evidence clearly shows that the information as to the presence of asbestos in the plant room was identified in 2001the management systems in place at that time were inadequate to meet the needs of (new) legislation.

"It appears that the communication breakdown, which seems to the panel to have been endemic during the incident', has led to a lack of information being disseminated by a lack of corporate information, instruction and training"

It endorses a recent independent review of the council's current asbestos plan and makes a number of recommendations. These include:

● Responsibility for work by external asbestos specialists must rest with council officials;

● Staff who are promoted may need extra training in dealing with the deadly fibres;

● The current policy should be submitted for annual approval by the full council and procedures kept under constant review.

The review panel was made up of six Wear Valley councillors and a union representative, chaired by retired council chief executive Peter Kemp.

Mr Kemp thanked his panel and explained the reasons for delays in releasing the report, which were expected in early spring. He said ensuring that witnesses could give evidence in a way in which they felt comfortable, submitting a current management plan for audit, seeking legal advice on the report and gaining additional evidence all contributed to the additional time needed.

Mr Kemp said that, in some cases, there had been a "distinct lack of evidence" which added to the confusion. However, he refuted claims by the Liberal Democrats that the inquiry had been delayed until after last month's local elections.

Councillor Neil Stonehouse, leader of the Labour Party, which ran the council at the time of the inquiry, admitted that the report "doesn't make pretty reading".

He said: "It's quite clear there was serious operational failures over quite a long time, and that's not good enough."

Councillors voted to accept the findings of the panel and the 39- page report.