The failure to manage the legionella bacteria risk in the hot and cold-water systems at HMP Lincoln has landed facilities management firm in court.
The prisoner contracted Legionnaires’ disease and subsequently died while serving a prison sentence. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uncovered multiple failures by the company, which provides facilities management services at HMP Lincoln, and these allowed legionella bacteria to multiply rapidly. The 71-year-old prisoner contracted Legionnaires’ disease and died on 5 December 2017. Water samples taken from his cell and from nearby shower blocks tested positive for legionella days after his death. HSE inspector Aaron Rashad identified multiple failures that resulted in the prisoner’s death.
The company had ensured a risk assessment was undertaken in 2016 but then did not act on its findings. It also failed to put in place a written scheme for preventing and controlling legionella risks. The HSE also identified a failure to ensure that appropriate water temperatures were maintained. Significantly, during October and November 2017, the facilities management firm failed to monitor the temperatures in the water system and this meant legionella bacteria could multiply rapidly.
The company pleaded guilty to breaching s3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act. In addition to being fined £600,000, it was also ordered to pay £15,186 in costs at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 3 December 2024.
HSE inspector Stacey Gamwell said: ‘There is a legal duty to keep workers and inmates safe in prisons. The occupants of HMP Lincoln had been put at risk of legionella bacteria and developing Legionnaires’ disease because of the companies failures. Companies need to ensure they have identified any risk of legionella and have suitable and sufficient arrangements in place for managing the risk and control measures they have implemented.’
A company spokesperson told the BBC that the company accepted that although it had an extensive legionella testing and management regime in place at HMP Lincoln, in a small number of areas, testing was not fully compliant with all elements of this regime. ‘There were a number of complicating factors, mainly due to the ageing infrastructure, which made it particularly hard to completely manage the risk from exposure to the legionella bacteria at the prison,’ they said.
Source – IOSH
