Academy trust found to have broken health and safety law over asbestos safety failings –after weeks of warnings from teachers

An asbestos van at the school on the weekend of May 21st, removing material.

An academy trust allowed classrooms at one of its schools to be open for weeks for use by children, teachers, cleaners and support staff despite repeated warnings about the dangers of asbestos, which was subsequently discovered.

The Health and Safety Executive has now written to the University of Brighton Academies Trust to state that it broke health and safety law by failing to conduct a survey of asbestos before starting work to install a new fire alarm system at its Burgess Hill Academy in West Sussex.

Asbestos fibres were subsequently discovered in a cupboard in one of the classrooms, more than three weeks after teachers had first raised concerns about the state of the building in which they worked, and three months after the work had begun.

Teachers have been told by the trust, which has apologised to them, that they could go to their GP for reassurance if they have health concerns, although the trust has said that tests indicate that asbestos had not reached unsafe levels in the air. Parents are seemingly still in the dark about the full nature of the asbestos discovery in a block at the school.