Staff put at risk by its council’s ‘endemic failure’
A PUBLIC inquiry has blamed “endemic” failings at Wear Valley District Council for staff at a Bishop Auckland Leisure Centre not being warned of the existence of asbestos for five years.Officials were told toxic material had been discovered in the plant room at Woodhouse Close Leisure Centre in 2001 but it was only when two workmen blew the whistle five years later that the incident became public knowledge.
The council was fined £18,000 by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and set up an independent public inquiry to ensure the same “systematic failings” never repeated themselves.
The six-man panel which featured two Labour, Lib Dem and Independent councillors was led by independent chairman Peter Kemp. Kemp said: “I take great pleasure in presenting this report and hope it is logical and readable. “It is important we are seen to be open and fair and people can see the methods we have used.”
The report found the root cause of the incident was a “systematic failure of overall management within the authority” to carry out “all of the duties and responsibilities as specified within the regulations.”
The panel also decided that the “endemic failure within the authority as a whole” meant staff had no choice but to raise their concerns over the asbestos with the HSE after “forming the opinion that the council had failed to act on their concerns seriously enough”.
The report said: “The information, instruction and training provided by Wear Valley District Council was insufficient to enable the successful management of asbestos. “This information, instruction and training was lacking at a corporate level and for staff at all levels within the council.
“It would appear that management staff within the centre were unprepared and untrained to deal with the issues relating to the management of the asbestos found within the plant room.”
The panel was satisfied, however, with the current management system and said the current asbestos management plan is “very well put together and meets all of the current legislative requirements.” Chief executive Gary Ridley said: "The council accepts the findings of the independent report.
“However as pointed out in the report the council's current asbestos management plan has been independently assessed as being comprehensive and meets current legislative requirements.
“The council has also strengthened its health and safety function through the appointment of additional staff, enhanced training budget and the introduction of a systematic inspection regime." Despite calls for the inquiry to be transparent, all sessions where former employees were interviewed were held behind closed doors and their names omitted from the final report.
Cllr Joe Buckham who was on the panel said: “Many of the people we wanted to talk to only allowed us to interview them under the condition we wouldn’t reveal their identities.” The inquiry could only invite people to interview and had no power to demand answers to their questions.
At the beginning of the inquiry, assistant director of legal services Anna Barker said: “It would be unfair and unreasonable to insist that witnesses come before the panel. Whether they still work for us or not, if they choose not to come there is nothing that can be done about it.
“Their non-attendance won’t prejudice them in regard to the inquiry and no inference should be read into their absence.”
