Three companies have been fined more than £1 million after workers came into contact with asbestos materials during a school refurbishment project in Waltham Forest, London.

Balfour Beatty Regional Construction Limited (previously Mansell Construction Services Limited) of Canary Wharf, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £500,000 with over £32,364 in costs.

NPS London Limited, of Business Park Norwich, Norfolk, was found guilty after a trial of a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £370,000 with more than £32,364 in costs.

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Squibb Group Limited, of Stanford Le Hope, Essex, was found guilty after a trial of a breach of Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £400,000 with £175,000 in costs.

Southwark Crown Court heard that during the work at St Mary's school on 24 July 2012, a worker removed part of a suspended ceiling in one of the ground floor refurbished rooms and identified suspect asbestos containing materials. Asbestos fibres were subsequently found in numerous areas in the school.

London Borough of Waltham Forest had a contract with NPS London Limited to manage development and refurbishment of its estate. At the time of the incident the Principal Contractor for the work was Mansell Construction Services (aka Balfour Beatty) and the subcontractor was Squibb Group Limited.

Speaking after the hearing HSE inspector Sarah Robinson said: "The principal contractor and contractors on site did not review the survey report in detail, and did not take into consideration the multitude of caveats.

"Therefore the work undertaken did not adopt the high standards of control expected for working where there was the potential to expose workers to asbestos."

(LM/MH)