Staff remain in the dark about asbestos scandal

8:21am Saturday 31st May 2008

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By Neil Macfarlane »

THE council responsible for one of the region's worst asbestos health and safety breaches has been criticised for failing to name the people responsible.

Staff at a County Durham sports centre were exposed to the cancer-causing substances for more than five years after their bosses ignored official warnings about the danger.

An inquiry to find out why the incident was allowed to happen has published its final report, but the names of officers interviewed about the scandal have been kept secret.

Robert Batie, a former maintenance worker at the Woodhouse Close Leisure Complex, in Bishop Auckland, said he and the other victims were entitled to know who was responsible for putting their health at risk.

He said: "This report does not tell us anything we did not already know. I thought the whole point of this was to find out exactly whose fault this was.

"The public needs to know because these people could now be working at other councils."

Asbestos was found in the leisure centre's boiler room in 2001, but no action was taken to remove it or to protect staff.

The problem did not come to light until January 2006, when one of the workers reported his employers to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The council was fined £18,000 at court over the matter.

The inquiry began in December, and investigations were carried out over the next six months, at a cost of £5,000.

No individuals were blamed for the scandal, and the report concluded the incident happened because of endemic failure in the council's management structure, which meant no one knew who was in charge of asbestos management.

But Derek Jago, a retired Lib Dem councillor at the council said yesterday that the people responsible should not be given anonymity.

He said: "We need to know who was chief executive at the time and who was head of the relevant department at the time.

"These are the people who were ultimately responsible and they should have been named."

Gary Ridley, the council's new chief executive, said the faults of 2001 had been rectified and the report recognised that the authority now deals with asbestos effectively.

He said: "The council accepts the findings of the independent report.

"However, as pointed out in the report, the council's current asbestos management plan has been independently assessed as being comprehensive and meets current legislative requirements.

"The council has also strengthened its health and safety function through the appointment of additional staff, enhanced training budget and the introduction of a systematic inspection regime."