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Good evening everyone.*
First let me apologise but there's a lot to write, but more I haven't so please read between the lines, and thank you for tasking the time to go through this post.*
I've been stewing on this situation for a good few weeks now and would really appreciate some advice.*
Back in September of last year I started a fixed term contract of six months for a privately owned property estate in London.*
The role was to assist in their compliance high risk, highly regulated materials, specifically asbestos. At the interview I was told that the post would involve the preparation of a new policy and train staff to work safely.*
However, this wasn't to be. On the first day I realised that they had some significant issues in regards to how the materials were being managed on the estate, specifically they appeared to be no effort to comply with the law that came into effect in 2004.*
In essence, they hadn't undertaken the required survey to locate, assess and record the information to protect people from asbestos exposure, this I realised myself when the then Health and Safety manager took to me several sites and showed me materials that I can only describe as being in a dreadful state. On returning to the office I managed to track down some information relating to these two properties which was around four years out of date, you're meant to inspect/reinspect each year.*
In any case, looking at the survey information it was clear that I should never have been taken in their without sufficient are RPE and PPE, Upon reading the register I disposed of my suit jacket/tie and washed as one would, placed my potentially contaminated clothing in a waste sack and made arrangements for it to be collected by a licensed removal carrier.*
Notifying two of the directors I then went back to the site and personally sealed off the affected areas and placed warning signs on the doors, it was then that I was told that cleaners had been using the area for a number of years to store cleaning materials, because of this they had been in the area twice a day, every day, incidentally the access was via the only disabled WC on that level, also noting that the reason for the constant cleaning regime was simple, the building was on a well known road in the city, one that is the foremast for top end private health care.
Again reporting this back to the directors, I was told to deal with the matter as quietly as possible, but I was not to inform the tenants of the seriousness of the situation.*
Suffice to say that I was in a constant battle in terms of trying to gain as much information as possible, which legally should have been instantly available.*
By month four, and after a great deal of wrangling to get sites inspected, works done and the board to listen to my constant pleas for them to take the matter seriously, I had completed a gap analysis of the data, this amounted to finding that over 2,600 premises, retail and residential properties had not been surveyed, not only that, the estate was allowing trades to access the areas and commence work without the correct information, this mainly due to the fact it didn't exist.
Then, around month five, I visited a site that a builder had been working on and stepped on a piece of wood that had a nail in it, net result, nail through the foot which became infected, but still I managed to get to work. This went into the accident book, and it was only then that I was told that the company should have provided me with PPE, suitably protected boots or shoes to stop this happening, to the best of my knowledge no one in the company was provided them. The pics I have clearly show a significant infected hole in my foot, which is still even now has an open entry point.**
back to the asbestos. When information isn't available in the terms of as asbestos register etc. it is normal for a presumption to be made, this effectively means that asbestos must be presumed present until its proved not to be, this I discussed at great length with the Estes legal advisers, who agreed with me.*
Now it gets a bit personal. Just before Christmas all the employees get dragged to a business update meeting, so around 120 of the main managers etc all sit in a room and told how the company is performing. That's not so bad you might think.*
However, on this particular day, the chairman decides to single me out when bringing all the new starters to the company up on a screen, noting that it'd be nice to see everyone wearing a tie for their company pic. When he gets to me though, he states that it looked like I was a criminal and had just released from prison, to which everyone laughed, as you might expect, I called it being humiliated in front of my peers.*
The sad thing about my photo was that the day it was taken was the very day I had been exposed to the asbestos and had to dispose of my suit jacket and tie, then washing in the WC. So I might have been a tad sensitive to his comments.*
When returning to the office, and for the next few weeks I was, for the want of a better term, a laughing stock, so much so that when I walked into the office there would be the normal calls to have everything locked away because the criminal had just walked in, not so funny then I can assure you.*
But still I persisted as I knew they'd give up at some stage.*
Sorry digressed.*
Reporting the presumption to the board, funny enough in the health and safety committee meeting, this was with the Cheif exc. and other seniors I reported what was needed to be done, this was closed down by the CEO as it was clearly the case of what I don't know about I can't be blamed for.
In any case, the number one recommendation that I made was that we should notify all tenants that asbestos maybe present, this action was agreed with the Estates solicitor so I knew I was on solid ground. It was then that it was made perfectly clear that the estate would not be telling anyone of the tenants about the asbestos, quoting "because we can only guess what they'd say."
*
Following the meeting I was pulled aside by a director and told that it didn't go too well for me as I might have been seen as a trouble maker, my reply was simple. Everyone has a duty to safeguard anyone that might be exposed to asbestos within the buildings we own, which I knew run into the thousands if we only consider those without information, the ones where information was available tended to show significant mismanagement and failure in their legal duties.*
Thankfully I had two directors that seemed to appreciate what was being said and they tasked me with getting the matter resolved.*
Jumping forward to the middle to month five I had a meeting with two of the directors who both asked if I would stay beyond my last day, this being the 24th March, this will become pertinent in a second.**
Knowing that I didn't need to look for work elsewhere as I had a confirmed extension I settled down to start resolving the issues the estate faced.**
Continuing to work as normal obviously we had the Covid effect, so I was asked to take my tech home and work there, this I did and continued as normal.
It was only on the 2nd or 3rd of April that I open the post and find my P45, remembering my contract ran out on the 24th March. Now curious I emailed a director and asked what was happening, his reply was quite shocking. "I have been told to sack all temporary staff because of the financial implications of Covid."*
Several email were exchanged with HR and in one I was told that I had been paid up to the end of the month, therefore the days I worked so I should consider myself lucky. Suffice to say I didn't feel very lucky!*
Obviously I've not been able to find any alternative employment at the moment so I'm stuck, but on this point, had I been told my contract wasn't being extended then I could have found another job, even if that meant me being put on furlough, which this employer refused to do.*
Again replying I asked of the month notice I would have been due had they wanted to dismiss me, the reply was short. Your contract ended on the 24th of March! Had that been the case then they would have needed to pay me the extra week or so.*
Obviously I don't want to detail too many of the occurrences of how many might have been exposed but suffice to say we're talking in tens of thousands.*
With above said, I strongly believe that the CEO, who obviously had a dislike of me, instructed said directors to dismiss me as they knew what my stance was to correcting their obvious failings. As the director wrote in one of the email to me, revenue is likely to go down therefore we have to look at where we spend money, which you could take as we'rte not spending it on getting the asbestos issue sorted.**
Needless to say I have a couple of questions.
1 - Was my contract extended by default due to me working past my contracted date with their agreement?*
2 - Should I have been paid my months notice?
3 - Is there any recourse over being dismissed because of the disclosures I made to the CEO et al insofar as failure to meet their health and safety obligations.*
4 - Can I claim for my injury knowing that I didn't receive a safety induction at the time of starting with the company, and finally, being exposed to asbestos, plus having the nail go through my foot because suitable PPE wasn't provided.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated insofar as next steps.* *
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First let me apologise but there's a lot to write, but more I haven't so please read between the lines, and thank you for tasking the time to go through this post.*
I've been stewing on this situation for a good few weeks now and would really appreciate some advice.*
Back in September of last year I started a fixed term contract of six months for a privately owned property estate in London.*
The role was to assist in their compliance high risk, highly regulated materials, specifically asbestos. At the interview I was told that the post would involve the preparation of a new policy and train staff to work safely.*
However, this wasn't to be. On the first day I realised that they had some significant issues in regards to how the materials were being managed on the estate, specifically they appeared to be no effort to comply with the law that came into effect in 2004.*
In essence, they hadn't undertaken the required survey to locate, assess and record the information to protect people from asbestos exposure, this I realised myself when the then Health and Safety manager took to me several sites and showed me materials that I can only describe as being in a dreadful state. On returning to the office I managed to track down some information relating to these two properties which was around four years out of date, you're meant to inspect/reinspect each year.*
In any case, looking at the survey information it was clear that I should never have been taken in their without sufficient are RPE and PPE, Upon reading the register I disposed of my suit jacket/tie and washed as one would, placed my potentially contaminated clothing in a waste sack and made arrangements for it to be collected by a licensed removal carrier.*
Notifying two of the directors I then went back to the site and personally sealed off the affected areas and placed warning signs on the doors, it was then that I was told that cleaners had been using the area for a number of years to store cleaning materials, because of this they had been in the area twice a day, every day, incidentally the access was via the only disabled WC on that level, also noting that the reason for the constant cleaning regime was simple, the building was on a well known road in the city, one that is the foremast for top end private health care.
Again reporting this back to the directors, I was told to deal with the matter as quietly as possible, but I was not to inform the tenants of the seriousness of the situation.*
Suffice to say that I was in a constant battle in terms of trying to gain as much information as possible, which legally should have been instantly available.*
By month four, and after a great deal of wrangling to get sites inspected, works done and the board to listen to my constant pleas for them to take the matter seriously, I had completed a gap analysis of the data, this amounted to finding that over 2,600 premises, retail and residential properties had not been surveyed, not only that, the estate was allowing trades to access the areas and commence work without the correct information, this mainly due to the fact it didn't exist.
Then, around month five, I visited a site that a builder had been working on and stepped on a piece of wood that had a nail in it, net result, nail through the foot which became infected, but still I managed to get to work. This went into the accident book, and it was only then that I was told that the company should have provided me with PPE, suitably protected boots or shoes to stop this happening, to the best of my knowledge no one in the company was provided them. The pics I have clearly show a significant infected hole in my foot, which is still even now has an open entry point.**
back to the asbestos. When information isn't available in the terms of as asbestos register etc. it is normal for a presumption to be made, this effectively means that asbestos must be presumed present until its proved not to be, this I discussed at great length with the Estes legal advisers, who agreed with me.*
Now it gets a bit personal. Just before Christmas all the employees get dragged to a business update meeting, so around 120 of the main managers etc all sit in a room and told how the company is performing. That's not so bad you might think.*
However, on this particular day, the chairman decides to single me out when bringing all the new starters to the company up on a screen, noting that it'd be nice to see everyone wearing a tie for their company pic. When he gets to me though, he states that it looked like I was a criminal and had just released from prison, to which everyone laughed, as you might expect, I called it being humiliated in front of my peers.*
The sad thing about my photo was that the day it was taken was the very day I had been exposed to the asbestos and had to dispose of my suit jacket and tie, then washing in the WC. So I might have been a tad sensitive to his comments.*
When returning to the office, and for the next few weeks I was, for the want of a better term, a laughing stock, so much so that when I walked into the office there would be the normal calls to have everything locked away because the criminal had just walked in, not so funny then I can assure you.*
But still I persisted as I knew they'd give up at some stage.*
Sorry digressed.*
Reporting the presumption to the board, funny enough in the health and safety committee meeting, this was with the Cheif exc. and other seniors I reported what was needed to be done, this was closed down by the CEO as it was clearly the case of what I don't know about I can't be blamed for.
In any case, the number one recommendation that I made was that we should notify all tenants that asbestos maybe present, this action was agreed with the Estates solicitor so I knew I was on solid ground. It was then that it was made perfectly clear that the estate would not be telling anyone of the tenants about the asbestos, quoting "because we can only guess what they'd say."
*
Following the meeting I was pulled aside by a director and told that it didn't go too well for me as I might have been seen as a trouble maker, my reply was simple. Everyone has a duty to safeguard anyone that might be exposed to asbestos within the buildings we own, which I knew run into the thousands if we only consider those without information, the ones where information was available tended to show significant mismanagement and failure in their legal duties.*
Thankfully I had two directors that seemed to appreciate what was being said and they tasked me with getting the matter resolved.*
Jumping forward to the middle to month five I had a meeting with two of the directors who both asked if I would stay beyond my last day, this being the 24th March, this will become pertinent in a second.**
Knowing that I didn't need to look for work elsewhere as I had a confirmed extension I settled down to start resolving the issues the estate faced.**
Continuing to work as normal obviously we had the Covid effect, so I was asked to take my tech home and work there, this I did and continued as normal.
It was only on the 2nd or 3rd of April that I open the post and find my P45, remembering my contract ran out on the 24th March. Now curious I emailed a director and asked what was happening, his reply was quite shocking. "I have been told to sack all temporary staff because of the financial implications of Covid."*
Several email were exchanged with HR and in one I was told that I had been paid up to the end of the month, therefore the days I worked so I should consider myself lucky. Suffice to say I didn't feel very lucky!*
Obviously I've not been able to find any alternative employment at the moment so I'm stuck, but on this point, had I been told my contract wasn't being extended then I could have found another job, even if that meant me being put on furlough, which this employer refused to do.*
Again replying I asked of the month notice I would have been due had they wanted to dismiss me, the reply was short. Your contract ended on the 24th of March! Had that been the case then they would have needed to pay me the extra week or so.*
Obviously I don't want to detail too many of the occurrences of how many might have been exposed but suffice to say we're talking in tens of thousands.*
With above said, I strongly believe that the CEO, who obviously had a dislike of me, instructed said directors to dismiss me as they knew what my stance was to correcting their obvious failings. As the director wrote in one of the email to me, revenue is likely to go down therefore we have to look at where we spend money, which you could take as we'rte not spending it on getting the asbestos issue sorted.**
Needless to say I have a couple of questions.
1 - Was my contract extended by default due to me working past my contracted date with their agreement?*
2 - Should I have been paid my months notice?
3 - Is there any recourse over being dismissed because of the disclosures I made to the CEO et al insofar as failure to meet their health and safety obligations.*
4 - Can I claim for my injury knowing that I didn't receive a safety induction at the time of starting with the company, and finally, being exposed to asbestos, plus having the nail go through my foot because suitable PPE wasn't provided.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated insofar as next steps.* *
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