Contractors and companies in the building trade were today warned they would be prosecuted if they removed asbestos without holding the proper licences.

The Health and Safety Executive warning came after a Shropshire company director was fined more than £6,500 and told to pay costs of about £11,000 over a health and safety offence relating to the unlicensed removal of asbestos from a factory.

It was issued as statistics showed that in Shropshire alone about one person dies every 12 weeks from mesothelioma, which mainly affects people who have previously been exposed to asbestos.

The HSE issued the warning after Shrewsbury Crown Court this week heard how staff at Secal Laser, Halesfield, Telford, were ordered to rip out asbestos with a crowbar and clean up with a vacuum cleaner.

Roger Lavender, of Shifnal, was fined £6,666 and ordered to pay £11,039.88 in court costs and a £15 surcharge after admitting an offence under the Health and Safety Work Act.

Shrewsbury Crown Court was told Lavender, 37, was the director of the firm when the employer failed to ensure work with asbestos was undertaken with a licence on December 14, 2007.

Paul O’Brien, for Lavender, told the court the incident was a disastrous combination of “incompetence and naivety”, but was not done to save money.

Guy Dale, an HSE inspector, today warned people they would be prosecuted if they did not fulfil their legal duty.

He said: “Those responsible for employees ordinarily have a legal duty to protect their health and safety but in the case of asbestos they should know that any disturbance of such a dangerous material should only be tackled by licensed workers.”

The HSE said exposure to asbestos was the biggest single cause of work-related deaths, with about 4,000 people a year dying from asbestos-related disease.

A spokesman for the HSE said: “In Shropshire alone around one person every 12 weeks dies a painful death from mesothelioma and these deaths are almost exclusively people who have previously been exposed to asbestos.”

By John Kirk