A SITE foreman said the threat of asbestosis “feels like a ticking time bomb” after a company was ordered to pay £81,943 for safety failures.

MJC Decorating and Refurbishing Ltd was working on Sentinel House on the Nuffield Industrial Estate in Poole in 2009 when HSE inspectors found widespread contamination of the potentially fatal material inside and outside the building.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard the company failed to carry out a suitable survey before 18 workers were exposed to asbestos dust and fibres that cause respiratory problems and incurable lung diseases.

And the court heard this may have exposed members of the public to asbestos when workers, who were removing ceilings, left the site.

At a previous hearing Dale Collins, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive, told Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court that one worker found it difficult to breathe and had not been wearing a suitable safety mask.

James Ageros, in mitigation, said the company owners, Witold and Agnieszka Gamski, had not had any other health and safety breaches with the company before.

MJC, based at North Cheam in Sutton, Surrey, pleaded guilty to three breaches of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006.

The company, contracted to carry out the work by King Sturge, was fined £45,000 and ordered to pay £36,943 in costs.

Speaking after the hearing site foreman Frank Harvey called on colleagues and any youngsters who trespassed onto the site before the work was done to visit their doctor.

Frank, 50, from Poole, said: “It feels like a ticking time bomb.

“Before we started the building was vandalised and used for rave parties.

“Thieves had been in there ripping out the copper and then kids were in there on their bikes.”

Also speaking afterwards, HSE Inspector Helena Tinton said: “MJC’s safety failings led to the needless exposure to dangerous asbestos fibres of its employees, agency staff and the wider public.”