§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when a report under the Reporting of Incidents, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations was submitted to the Health and Safety Executive concerning asbestos contamination at the regional police headquarters in Armagh; and what action has been taken by the HSE as a result. [120310]
§ Mr. PearsonThe limited scale of this asbestos contamination incident meant that it was not reportable under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997. However, the Police Federation passed details to the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) on 10 August 1998. HSENI's subsequent investigation confirmed a limited release of asbestos fibres in an unoccupied basement room used to store police files. Although HSENI was satisfied with the 613W remedial action taken to deal with the contamination it did follow up with the police authority to ensure that suitable procedures for identifying the presence of asbestos containing materials were put in place and applied across the police authority estate.