The Scotsman reported on 21 Jun 2007 that a well meaning pensioner triggered a safety scare by asbestos lagging from a church roof - and then placing it in black bin bags.
The dangerous material was supposed to be removed from St Columba's Church in Newington by specialised contractors but an 80-year-old church volunteer beat them to it.
When workers turned up to carry out the work, they found the asbestos lagging already stored in the rubbish sacks, with traces of it spread across the church. The firm then called in the Health and Safety Executive.
A subsequent investigation found that the volunteer had cleaned up the lagging - which had been covering water pipes - in a bid to help out church bosses but was unaware that it contained asbestos.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: "We were notified of the incident by the contractor and it transpired that asbestos had been disturbed and removed by the elderly gentleman.
"We carried out a full investigation and all of the people who used the church over the weekend were notified of what happened.
"It was clear that the gentleman did this with good intent and, as far as we are concerned, the matter has now been dealt with."
The prohibition notice was lifted later that same week when the specialist contractor removed the bin bags full of lagging from the church.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=972162007
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