Stonemasons fine prompts warningsSafety warnings have been issued to employers working with silica-based materials after a stonemasons was fined £30,000 when two of its workers developed lung disease.
York-based William Anelay Limited, admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974's Section 2(1) at York Crown Court. Two of its stonemasons fell ill after being exposed to uncontrolled levels of respirable crystalline silica between May 1994 and July 2008.
The potentially life-shortening illness was caused primarily by dry stone carving without extraction ventilation or use of protective equipment. Now the Health and Safety Executive has warned employers to take correct safety precautions.
High levels of airborne silica were identified 14 years earlier in a monitoring survey, but measures taken to protect employees were not adequate. Both men were left with long-term lung damage. One man has since been forced to take early retirement and the other has been unable to return to work as a stonemason.
William Anelay Limited is based in Murton Way, Osbaldwick.
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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