Industry news
Stonemasons fined over lung disease
Posted Mon, 08 Feb
A stonemasons has been fined £30,000 after employees working around silica-based materials fell ill with lung diseases.
William Anelay Limited has been told by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to take correct safety precautions after two employees developed the potentially life-shortening illnesses upon exposure to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica.
The York-based firm admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. The city's crown court heard the exposure, between May 1994 and July 2008, is caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment.
William Anelay, of Murton Way, Osbaldwick, had employed the two stonemasons for many years and high levels of airborne silica were identified 14 years before the case was brought, but measures previously taken to protect workers were inadequate, York Crown Court heard.
The victims' disabilities were so severe that one took early retirement and the other was unable to work as a stonemason.
HSE Inspector Julian Franklin said: "Had the company acted on the information they received after a survey in 1994, these men may not now be suffering from serious illnesses."
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