Chichester marine firm fined £130k for failing asbestos safety laws

A MARINE firm has been fined more than £130,000 over asbestos in one of their vessels.

Tarmac Marine Ltd, based in Chichester, was fined a total of £130,544.57, for failing to properly deal with asbestos within one of their vessels and keeping their crew safe, in a prosecution brought by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The crews of the vessel The City of Westminster, a 96-metre dredger with 12 crew, had been asked to paint over asbestos.

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They refused and the management were forced to disclose to the crew that the pipework contained asbestos.

The company pleaded guilty to four offences contrary to the Merchant Shipping Act Health & Safety and Asbestos regulations including failing to carry out a risk assessment of exposure to asbestos by the crew, failing to have an asbestos management plan in place and failing to provide relevant information to workers.

Southampton magistrates heard the case and the MCA said the firm showed ‘scant regard’ to its employees.