Builders fined £500 for asbestos failings: CDM compliance lessons for project teams
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
A £500 fine has been imposed on McGrath Building & Joinery Contracts Ltd after HSENI found serious asbestos management failings during refurbishment of the Sacred Heart Chapel in Boho, Co. Fermanagh in November 2023. Investigators concluded the principal contractor did not adequately plan, manage or monitor works under Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, particularly around identifying and safely removing licensed asbestos. The Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court conviction signals continued regulatory focus on CDM-compliant asbestos surveys and licensed removal on small refurbishment projects.
Technical Brief
- Regulation 13(1) CDM (NI) 2016 breach centred on inadequate planning, management and monitoring duties.
- Failure related specifically to identifying and arranging safe removal of *licensed* asbestos materials, not non-licensed work.
- McGrath Building & Joinery Contracts Ltd, based in Belcoo, acted as principal contractor and duty-holder under CDM.
- Guilty plea was entered to a single health and safety offence at Enniskillen Magistrates’ Court.
- HSENI inspector explicitly reiterated principal contractors’ obligation to co-ordinate health and safety “so far as reasonably practicable”.
Our Take
Among the 14 Hazards stories in our coverage, enforcement actions in Northern Ireland like this HSENI case are relatively rare compared with Great Britain, suggesting local contractors may underestimate how actively CDM (NI) 2016 is being applied on small refurbishment jobs.
A £500 penalty for breaches at Sacred Heart Chapel signals that even low-value or community projects in Co. Fermanagh are now within scope for asbestos management scrutiny, which is likely to push smaller firms such as McGrath Building & Joinery Contracts Ltd towards formal surveys and method statements rather than informal practices.
Because this incident is tagged under both Safety and Standard/Guideline within our 599 tag-matched pieces, it reinforces that regulators are using CDM designer/contractor duties (Regulation 13(1)) as a primary lever on asbestos rather than relying only on specialist asbestos regulations, which project managers should factor into their role allocations and documentation.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
