Company Prosecuted for Ignoring Legionella Risk, Director Fined
Laxity pertaining to the check on legionella in the cooling towers, by the managing director of a
Ignoring the cautionary notices given by the contractors relating to the water treatment of his company’s two cooling towers, Ernest Jones of the Coseley-located First Metal Finishers Ltd. did not succeed in devising a management system that could have checked the spread of legionella from those cooling towers. Mr Jones of Rugeley, Staffordshire acknowledged his role in disregarding Section 37(1) sub-section 3(1), of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, 1974. He was fined ₤2,000 and directed to pay ₤1,000 as costs.
The
In order to prevent the towers from functioning, a prohibition notice was issued at the location of the towers and an improvement notice was also sent to assemble a proper management system for monitoring the presence and spread of legionella. The report on the shortcomings that were pinpointed at the time of the inspection was treated with indifference by the company’s Managing Director, Ernest Jones.
HSE inspector, Sarah Palfreyman felt that that since the danger was anticipated it could have been avoided. The company, and s its managing director, had received an estimation of the costs from two water treatment companies which he had disregarded. He had also been forewarned as to the presence of immensely high levels of bacteria in the towers, from one of the companies. This was, she felt an imminent danger, since there have been cases where epidemic proportions have been assumed, in the recent years, as in the case with the
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