Asbestos Litigation

English company Crown Waste Management has been hit with a £32,000 fine over allegations that it failed to properly dispose of asbestos after removing the carcinogenic material from an Army barracks.

According to the Coventry Telegraph, a prosecutor told Coventry Magistrates' Court that the company was contracted in September 2009 to complete the asbestos abatement work at the Gamecock Barracks in Bramcote.

Two containers of asbestos from the site were allegedly deposited in an area of Nuneaton where there was no environmental permit enabling the company to do so, the prosecutor claims.

After intervention from the Environment Agency, the asbestos ultimately was not properly disposed of until July 2010, the prosecutor said. The court heard that a member of the company's staff had allegedly forgotten that the asbestos had been deposited in the illegal location.

Handling asbestos with care and ensuring that it is properly disposed of is critical as exposure to the carcinogen has been proven to cause a range of fatal illnesses including lung cancer, asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma, a rare from of cancer.