A Merthyr Tydfil-based recycling company has been fined for failing to take appropriate measures to control the risk of exposure of its workers and the public to the potentially fatal Legionella bacteria.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted the recycling company following an investigation of its premises as part of HSE’s response to the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease along the Heads of the Valleys corridor we reported in September 2010.
HSE inspectors visited the premises and found that over a period of five weeks, the company had sporadically been operating a cooling tower on site without taking appropriate measures to control the risk of proliferation of the Legionella bacteria. A Prohibition Notice was immediately served preventing the cooling tower from being used until all appropriate controls were put in place.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 8(1) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, and Regulation 3(1) of the Notification of Cooling Towers and Evaporative Condensers Regulations 1992. They were fined £600 and ordered to pay full costs of £8,577.
Source: HSE
Photo courtesy of Michelle Meiklejohn/ freedigitalphotos.net
