| Council Accused Over Plan to Cut Asbestos Staff
The Herald, Glasgow – 20 February, 2007
UNION officials yesterday accused a council of putting the safety of the public and staff at risk with a proposal to halve the staff of an asbestos survey unit.
Glasgow City Council plans a cut of £200,000 from the budget of the unit - a group of experienced environmental protection services surveyors charged with protecting the health of anyone visiting council premises from asbestos fibres.
Councils are required by law to manage the presence of asbestos on all their properties.
Unison said yesterday the cuts, which threaten between six and seven staff out of 11, will mean vital health and safety audits of asbestos in council buildings being curtailed.
Scott Donohoe, Glasgow branch health and safety officer, said: "Because of the large number of properties this work is already proving difficult to complete as surveys have to be constantly updated to ensure that asbestos is not disturbed."
Unison claims the drop in staffing means that all the surveys will fall behind schedule, exposing the council to possible failures in identifying asbestos which could lead to exposure to the killer fibres.
The unit was formed as a response to a previous failure at Craigbank Secondary School in the late 1990s. More than 100 workers were exposed to the dust because of the council's failure which was further punished with a £50,000 fine after a prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive.
A council spokesman said demand for the service had decreased. "There are not as many buildings now with asbestos problems, and not as many requiring monitoring as there were five years ago," he added.
* re-produced with kind permission of ARCA |
