A PLUMBER has been fined after he put his own son and a young family at risk of exposure to asbestos.
Dean Fisk had been employed to replace a water tank in the loft of a house in Gardendale Avenue, Clifton.
But a court heard that he had failed to carry out any form of assessment to see if asbestos was present.
As a result Mr Fisk's son Jack, who is also a plumber and worked alongside him, removed a box around the boiler which contained asbestos, breaking panels in the process.
The work, in January 2012, left the loft contaminated with potentially deadly fibres.
The homeowner, who did not want to be identified, had to pay £2,870 for licensed contractors to be brought in to remove all traces of the asbestos.
The woman, who has a young son, lost personal belongings including family photographs and items that had belonged to her late grandmother.
Fisk, 53, of Flawforth Avenue, Ruddington, pleaded guilty to breaching the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 and was fined a total of £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £4,000. He was also ordered to pay compensation of £2,870 to the home owner.
Speaking after the hearing, Health and Safety Executive inspector Kevin Wilson said: "Asbestos is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK, accounting for around 4500 fatalities a year.
"Tradespeople working in premises likely to contain asbestos have a duty to ensure they protect themselves and members of the public from risk of exposure to this hidden killer.
"This family home would not have been contaminated if the asbestos had been identified by Dean Fisk before the work was started. Work could then have been undertaken without disturbing the asbestos, or have been carried out by a suitably trained person."
Information about working with asbestos is available at www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos
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