Welcome to our February 2011 newsletter from Environmental Essentials.

This Month

	Internal News
	Staff Develpoment
	How are we doing ??
	Asbestos Free Seminars
	What can you expect from this seminar?
	Topic of the Month
	Training Dates
	In News: Co-operative fined £30k for supermarket asbestos exposure

Our Mission

It is our intention to provide accurate workplace solutions and impartial advice whilst maintaining an uncompromising level of quality and Commitment that is second to none

UKAS Accredited Surveys

All our surveying services are fully UKAS accredited and are carried out to the highest standards, providing you with a cost-effective and efficient service. Find Out More

Asbestos Removal

Our experienced consultants provide a comprehensive management service Find Out More

Free Asbestos Seminars

During 2009 and 2010 EE have delivered FREE monthly seminars for Duty Holders and contracting organizations throughout the UK. Find Out More

Other Training

IOSHH Working Safely (1 day course)
IOSHH Managing Safely (4 day course) Confined space entry/egress and breathing apparatus (1 day)

Internal News

Staff Development

At Environmental Essentials we have recognised the benefits of adopting a planned and structured approach to the maintenance and upgrading of skills. We encourage staff to enhance and develop their skills for the benefit of the company and the staff themselves. We are pleased to announce that the following staff have achieved the following qualifications. Alex Johnson P403/404 Rich Beevers, Rich Lerwill and Craig Dooley P402 Nichola Shaw and Kara Crouch P901 Martin Saunders CCP We would also like to wish a warm welcome to all our new staff. Stacey McKay and Salma Sultana who have joined the head office Laboratory as training Asbestos Laboratory Technicians. Justine Brown has joined the accounts team. And Jamie Stevenson - Business Development Consultant (Scotland and North East)

How are we doing??

As part of our UKAS Accreditation we are required to continually monitor the performance of our accredited services in order to identify any potential areas for improvement.

We would like to invite you to provide us with your feedback via online Customer service questionnaire using the link below. Your comments and opinions will be gratefully received.

http://www.environmentalessentials.co.uk/ServiceQuestionnaire.htm

Your comments will be reviewed by our Quality Manager and the trend analysis of the completed questionnaires will be reviewed during Quality Management Review meetings to ensure we continually improve our services.

We value feedback from our Clients and strive to provide the best service to you

Asbestos FREE Seminars

FREE Asbestos Seminars – Cost Effective Management of Asbestos in Buildings

During 2010 Environmental Essentials delivered a series of seminars addressing the release of the HSG 264 Asbestos the Surveyors Guide to over 400 people. We are now kick starting 2011 by launching a new programme of seminars to discuss simplified and cost effective asbestos management options.

What can you expect from this seminar?

The aim is to share our experiences in being involved in large scale compliance projects and to help you achieve best practice asbestos management. The seminars will be packed with useful and relevant information including presentations on balancing the budget of high risk maintenance and repairs:-

• Non-Licence Work v Licenced Work
• Maintenance v Replacement, associated costs and savings
• Effective re-inspection strategies
• Work in Occupied areas planned v responsive /emergency maintenance

The seminars will be presented in a number
of morning seminars throughout the country as
detailed below.

If you would like to book your place(s) or would

like further information please contact Rosie on

0845 4569953 or email

rgreer@environmentalessenitals.co.uk.

Topic of the Month

DONATING AN HOUR MAY SAVE A LIFE

As you probably know the HSE is asking for training providers to donate training hours so that they get 4000 which is the number of asbestos related deaths in 2010.

Environmental Essentials have always supported the HSE Asbestos campaigns and we are continuing to do so by pledging 108 hours to the HSE in support of this.

Training Dates

On a monthly basis Environmental Essentials holds open Asbestos Training Courses at the head office in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire for individuals to attend.

We can also provide training courses specifically for your own company either at your own premises or at Environmental Essentials training facility. For a bespoke quotation and to find out availability please contact Liz on 0845 4569953 or email ladams@environmentalessentials.co.uk

In News :

Co-operative fined £30k for supermarket asbestos exposure

SHP - 06 January 2011

Customers and staff at a supermarket in Oldham were exposed to asbestos when a workman smashed a ceiling panel containing the hazardous substance.

In December 2007, SF Fire Protection Services Ltd was contracted to install a new fire alarm at a Co-operative store in Market Square, Royton. During the work an engineer broke a ceiling panel in order to fit a cable to the alarm. The worker was unaware that the panel contained brown asbestos and the debris fell on to the shop floor. Two of the store's employees helped clear the debris and left it in an open bag at the rear of the store for two weeks.

Three months later Oldham Council received a waiver application from a separate contractor who was carrying out unrelated work at the store. The waiver allows asbestos work to be carried out without the required 14 days prior notification. An environmental health officer visited the store to consider the application and found traces of asbestos on top of a food cabinet and inside a freezer. It was at this point when he was informed about the incident during the installation of the fire alarm.

During his investigation he learned that the Co-operative was aware that asbestos was present in the ceiling as it had a record of an asbestos survey, which was carried out before it took over the store in 2007. However this information was not passed on to SF Fire Protection Services before the work started and the engineer had not been given asbestos awareness training.

The Co-operative appeared at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester on 17 December and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) of the HSWA 1974. It was fined £30,000 with costs of £7368.

SF Fire Protection Services attended the same hearing and pleaded guilty to breaching s2(1) and s3(1) of the same Act. It was fined a total of £12,000 and ordered to pay £7360 in costs.

The Co-operative told the court that this was an isolated incident and it feels that it has adequate safety procedures in place. A spokesperson from the group told SHP: “The safety of our customers and staff is of the utmost importance to us. We always endeavour to comply with, and go beyond, health and safety requirements in all our stores, and would like to apologise to anyone who has been caused anxiety following this incident.

“We would like to reassure our customers that we called in a qualified asbestos removal contractor as soon as this incident came to light, and tests showed that asbestos levels were well within safe exposure limits.

“We believe we were badly let down by our contractor who, without our control or knowledge, sent a fire-alarm installer who was not adequately trained and who did not have adequate asbestos awareness.”

In mitigation, SF Fire Protection Services accepted that it had failed to properly plan the work. It has subsequently appointed a health and safety professional who has delivered asbestos awareness training to all of the firm's engineers.

The Health & Safety Executive has denied that its ‘Hidden Killer' asbestos awareness campaign has been cancelled.

The HSE has now responded by asserting that the campaign is simply “between phases”.

Karen Clayton, director of the HSE's long latency health risks division said: “HSE's Asbestos: the Hidden Killer campaign has not been cancelled as it has been claimed. It is usual for us to take stock at the end of each phase of our campaigns to see how successful they have been. Hidden Killer is currently in one of those periods.

“All the Hidden Killer information is freely available online and we continue to publicise every asbestos prosecution we take to raise awareness of the issue and the threat posed to high risk groups such as tradesmen.

“We continue to actively work with a range of stakeholders to further increase awareness of the risks of asbestos and the action tradesmen should take to protect themselves, reinforcing the messages of Hidden Killer .

“HSE will continue to make tackling asbestos a priority, both in terms of our communications activity and our enforcement work.”