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Court Summary - at a glance

Date of offence:
26 March 2013
 
Plea:
Not guilty
 
Decision:
Withdrawn
 
Final decision date:
 
Fine imposed:
Not applicable

Safety lessons learned:

Not applicable

Defendant name:
2013-B
 
Industry:
Public administration and safety
 
Date of offence:
26 March 2013
 
Facts in brief:
The defendant has given work regularly to Exterior Building Care Goleman Limited since approximately 2005, for a range of services including building and high rise cleaning.

On 17 December 2012, the defendant was quoted a price for removal of lichen from the roof of the Parkside Building. This quote was accepted by CDHB and work was to commence on Monday 25 March 2013.

The lichen work commenced as scheduled on Monday 25 March 2013 and continued to the following day. While scraping the lichen, an employee became concerned that the roof may contain asbestos. The Operations Manager of the defendant was phoned to discuss the workers’ concerns. They were advised to stop work immediately. However on the 27 March, two employees returned to work on the roof to continue removing lichen. On 28 March, samples were taken for testing by Chemsafety.

On 12 April 2013, Chemsafety issued a more thorough report confirming Chrysotile (white) asbestos was present in the Parkside roof membrane and lichen debris.
 
Offence section:
S6 Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992
 
Date(s) charged:

Court:
Christchurch - District Court
 
Plea:
Not guilty
 
Final decision date:
 
Decision:
Withdrawn
 
Fine imposed:
Not applicable
 
Maximum fine available:
$250,000
 
Reparation:
Not applicable