Public liability insurance customers have been warned about the importance of risk assessments after prosecutions for exposing workers to asbestos.
Recon Packaging of Ashton-under-Lyne pleaded guilty to breaching rule 4(3) of the Control of Asbestos at Work Regulations 2002 and was fined £3,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,000.
Industrial Commercial Building Services (ICBS) of Stockport and its managing director also pleaded guilty to breaching health and safety and asbestos licensing regulations and were fined £2,000 each.
Trafford magistrates court heard how ICBS employees came into contact with the cancer-related material while demolishing part of Recon's recycling plant in 2006.
However, no risk assessment was carried out on the premises and the company was not licensed to remove the material.
Stuart Kitchingman, Health and Safety Executive (HSE) inspector, said that he was "shocked" that workers were exposed in this way.
The prosecution comes only days before that start of a new national campaign to raise awareness among public liability insurance customers about the dangers of asbestos, with figures revealing that 20 tradesmen die every week from related diseases.