THE owner of a stonemasonry company in the North-East has been fined for failing to supply the right masks for bearded workers.

Thomas Bushby, trading as JLD Stone, which is based in Tow Law, Bishop Auckland, County Durham, did not provide adequate control of silica for men with facial hair.

Exposure to the deadly substance can cause silicosis and lung cancer,

Consett Magistrates’ Court was told operators were not provided with masks for tasks which needed them while, other workers were provided with masks which were not suitable due to their beards.

Stone dust was also swept up rather than vacuumed on sites, the court was told.

Employees also carried out tasks using vibrating tools including air hammers where no assessment was made of the risk.

Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Fiona McGarry said: “Serious irreversible ill health or even death can result from exposure to silica and hand arm vibration syndrome is a permanent disabling condition.

“Employers need to take action to ensure they are providing adequate control to protect the health of employees.”

An employee of Thomas Bushby, trading as JLD Stone, was diagnosed with hand-arm vibration syndrome in 2009 and another was diagnosed with the condition in 2014.

An HSE investigation found that no health surveillance was carried out on Bushby’s employees between 2008 and 2014.

The HSE said regular health surveillance is a way to identify early symptoms of disease so action can be taken to stop it getting worse.

And it said it had previously given Bushby advice on the matter.

Bushby, of Castleside, Consett, was fined a total of £2,500 and was ordered to pay £1,921.29 in costs after pleading guilty to health and safety offences.

He admitted offences under Regulation 7 (1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and Regulation 5 (1) and 7 (1) of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005.

No-one was available for comment when the company was contacted by The Northern Echo.