A retired health and safety consultant has been ordered to pay almost £2,000 by magistrates after pleading guilty to failing to make a suitable assessment of a hazardous substance at a Keighley stone supplier.

Richard Atterby provided health and safety services to George Farrar (Quarries) Ltd for more than three years.

Bradford Magistrates Court heard yesterday how the failure of the stone supplier to make a suitable assessment of the risk to the health of their employees from exposure to respirable crystalline silica, was down to the poor quality of Atterby’s advice.

Atterby, of York, was fined £1,000 and ordered to pay costs of £700, plus a victim surcharge of £15.

In mitigation, the defendant, who represented himself, said the site had important and urgent risks to be addressed other than the risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica.

After the case, Keith King, a principal inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, said the health risk of exposure could be devastating.

He said: “This should serve as a salutary lesson for all employers who rely too readily upon paid advisers.”