School issued notice over asbestos risk

A school in Herefordshire has been told it must improve how it deals with the building's risk of asbestos.

The improvement notice was issued by the Health and Safety Executive to Queen Elizabeth High School, Bromyard, in August, and it was given until the end of October to make improvements.

It said that the school had failed to manage the risk of asbestos because a suitable assessment as to whether it was liable to be present in the premises had not been made.

The Three Counties Academy Trust, which operates and is based at the site, said the issues identified were in hand, and it was ensuring full compliance within the required period.

The trust's chief executive, Martin Farmer, said the school did contain some asbestos, as did many schools of its age, but all identified asbestos was "securely boxed in and inaccessible, in line with health and safety regulations and best practice".

He added that the improvement notice concerned the "documentation and communication of this information", specifically ensuring that a management plan and communications to staff and contractors were fully up to date.

"We acknowledge that improvements are required to the documentation and communication processes within the asbestos management plan, and these are already being addressed," he said.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.

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