A warning has been issued about asbestos after two construction bosses were sentenced for putting workers at risk while carrying out a £2.4m contract to transform a well-known department store into student flats.
James Keegan, 65, and Alan Barraclough, 51, were both directors of Keebar Construction Ltd when they took on the lucrative job to convert Joplings in Sunderland into student housing in 2017. Newcastle Crown Court heard how the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) visited the site in October that year and stopped the construction work after discovering numerous employees had been exposed to the risk of asbestos over a five-month period.
Following a 10 day trial, Keegan and Barraclough were convicted of failing to ensure the health and safety of employees and non employees in relation to exposure to asbestos fibres. The court in Newcastle heard how the employees who were put at risk included their own son's.
Read more: Brute left ex battered, bruised and with broken arm after forcing entry to her Newcastle home
On Wednesday, Judge Stephen Earl told the court how an asbestos expert had told the jury that it was the "worst case" he had come across and said the construction bosses had put their own family members, who were working at the site, at risk.
He handed the defendants 14 month prison sentences suspended for two years and banned them from being company directors for 10 years. The judge also ordered them to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and pay £44,774.21 each in costs.
Following the hearing, HSE inspector Phil Chester, said: "Asbestos is responsible for the premature deaths of over 5,000 people each year. Younger people, if routinely exposed to asbestos fibres are, over time, at greater risk of developing asbestos-related disease than older workers. This is due to the time it takes for the body to develop symptoms after exposure to asbestos.
"Exposure to asbestos can cause four main diseases – Mesothelioma (a cancer of the lining of the lungs), asbestos-related lung cancer, Asbestosis (a scarring of the lungs); and Diffuse pleural thickening (a thickening of the membrane surrounding the lungs, which can restrict lung expansion leading to breathlessness).
"It can take anywhere between 15-60 years for any symptoms to develop after exposure. Companies need to recognise the dangers of removing asbestos without appropriate safety measures, to their employees and members of the public."
Keegan, of Larkspur Road, Middlesbrough and Barraclough, of Wheldrake Close, Guisborough, were convicted in relation to a time period between May 1 and October 14, 2017.
Judge Earl told the court: "The site did contain significant amounts of asbestos. Each defendant saw evidence of asbestos in the building. Each defendant knew of the risks. The employees were the defendants' own sons. The actions of these defendants put them in harm's way."
James Patrick McKeon, prosecuting for the HSE, told the court during a previous hearing how the site supervisor had been instructed to look out for asbestos, putting him and other workers in harm's way. He said: "No work should have been carried out until the area had been made safe." Mr McKeon said no one can work with asbestos unless they are licenced to do so and the Keegan and Barraclough must have known they didn't have a licence."
He continued: "The prosecution say this was cost cutting at the expense of safety. By failing to remove the asbestos from the building before starting the work they save the cost, which would have been around £200,000. They also evade substantial penalty clauses for any delay in completing the work that the asbestos removal would have caused." Mr McKeon said the defendants also failed to notify the HSE and the local council about the commencement of the work.
An investigation by the HSE found that demolition and stripping work had been carried out inside the property. The age of the building and previous refurbishment work meant that there were vast quantities of asbestos containing materials inside the premises. During several months of demolition and refurbishment work, it had been broken up using sledgehammers and brute force. Asbestos fibres were spread across five floors of the building as well as the outside.
Ian West, defending Keegan, previously told the court how his client had left the job to Barraclough as he had more experience in that line of work. He said: "At the time the contract was being negotiated, Mr Keegan's mother was dying. He was spending very little time at work. His contact with the negotiation of the contract was with Mr Barraclough. He had no real experience of dealing with asbestos and certainly not the quantity that was found to exist in Joplings."
He continued: "The workers that were put at risk were his own sons who worked at the family business and the defendant would never have put them and their families, potentially his own grandchildren at risk, if he knew or expected there was asbestos in the building that he knew about. The work took place over a relatively short period and there were very few workers on the site during that early period. Mr Keegan sincerely hopes that those who have been put most at risk, particularly his own sons, will not develop disease."
Jonathan Harley, defending Barraclough, told the court how he client also sent his son onto the building site. He said: "He accepts that there was 10 workers involved and therefore a number of workers potentially exposed." He said the prosecution was suggesting his client's actions were deliberate, however he said it was "impossible" for anyone to come to the conclusion that the jury convicted him as anything other than negligent in what he did.
In relation to the cost cutting suggestion, Mr Harley said: "Effectively my submission is there is no evidence financially that this was a cost cutting measure." He told the court there was no evidence to confirm that he would have been "left out of pocket".
Chronicle Live reported back in 2018 how the Joplings department store had been transformed into luxury student apartments, with the ground floor converted into shops. The building had been derelict since 2010.
Read more:
