United Kingdom businesses are being put on notice over the presence of asbestos in imported goods after Power Link Machines Ltd was sentenced for safety breaches after the HSE found the company to have used gaskets in generators that contained asbestos.
The issue was first brought to the attention of the HSE in March of 2018, and subsequent analysis conducted by their Science Division found that the gaskets contained asbestos, and the company was served with a Prohibition Notice. The notice required them to stop using the gaskets and ensure that, moving forward, they did not import any items that contained asbestos.
In September of 2018, a second concern was received, where employees had been asked to work on a generator set, which contained gaskets that appeared very similar to the asbestos-containing ones found earlier. The gaskets had been imported from Power Link Machine in China.
Further investigations by the HSE found the ‘new’ gaskets also contained asbestos, and due to the importation of the goods, the company was in breach of the Prohibition Notice.
It was also found that the company had allowed an untrained employee to remove these gaskets, which had resulted in asbestos fibres being released into the generator set, and two other employees had then been tasked with working on that set, likely exposing them to asbestos fibres.
Power Link Machines (UK) Ltd pleaded guilty to breaching the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and breaching enforcement regulations. They were fined £22,000 (40,404AUD) and ordered to pay costs of £2,062 (3,787AUD).
HSE inspector Rachel Brittain said after the hearing that “when materials that contain asbestos are disturbed or damaged, fibres are released into the air. When these fibres are inhaled, they can cause serious diseases.
“Had the company put robust checks in place to ensure that they were not importing asbestos-containing materials, this incident would not have occurred.”