The Netherlands Labour Authority has issued penalty payment orders to 3 companies that work with asbestos. 1 company has been ordered to pay a total penalty of € 40,740 because it did not have the required certificate for the work it was carrying out. Such a certificate is mandatory. The work may not be carried out without an asbestos removal certificate.
A health and safety plan had also not been drawn up. The order means that the violating party must comply with the relevant obligations, failing which the penalty becomes payable.
2 other companies that were working with asbestos at construction sites in Uitgeest and Boskoop also each received a penalty payment order of € 26,500. 1 company received an order because employees were at risk of falling while removing corrugated asbestos sheets from the roof of a shed. In the absence of safe scaffolding, guardrails or fencing, the work at height could not be carried out safely. The other company received a penalty payment order because work at height was not carried out safely during the removal of corrugated asbestos sheets from a roof. No facilities had been provided, and no precautions had been taken, to prevent the risk of falling.
A penalty payment order is not a punishment, but it is intended to prevent violations from recurring.
Safe asbestos removal
Asbestos is often not removed safely. In almost one-third of inspections, the Netherlands Labour Authority sees that companies which remove asbestos and are certified to do so are failing to comply with the rules. These rules are intended to ensure that asbestos is removed safely without exposing employees to health risks.
Failure to apply the safety rules leads to clear health risks. For example, employees may be exposed to carcinogenic asbestos fibres. The risk of falling is also a hazard, because asbestos has often been used in roofs that need to be replaced.
Labour Authority enforcement
Supervision of asbestos remediation work is essential, because asbestos must be removed safely. Despite the risks, and despite the requirement that work in the sector be carried out by certified companies, this is by no means always what happens. The Labour Authority actively checks compliance.
The Labour Authority actively carries out risk-based and reactive supervision of companies and locations where buildings constructed before the asbestos ban came into force in 1994 are being demolished or renovated and may therefore still contain asbestos. An inspector may immediately stop demolition or removal work where necessary.