Director Ordered to Pay a Fine for Overlooking Risk of Legionella
After finding him guilty of being unable to control the legionella menace in the cooling towers belonging to his company, the managing director of a
Although repeated alerts were issued from water treatment contractors, Ernest Jones who is the Managing Director of First Metal Finishers Ltd, located at Coseley, was found negligent of not setting up a management system to check the spread of legionella. Mr Jones of Rugeley, Staffordshire, admitted to the contravention of Section 37(1), by virtue of Section 3(1), of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act, 1974.He was asked to pay costs of ₤1,000 and a fine amounting to ₤2,000.
The sequence of events, as it had unfolded, was narrated to the Dudley magistrates detailing how, in September 2008, inspectors had surveyed two cooling towers of First Metal Finishers Ltd. in
Following this, a notice to stop the towers from working was immediately issued along with a notice for the improvement in the monitoring system. The shortcomings that were found in the investigation revealed how the company’s Managing Director, Ernest Jones, had disregarded the notices.
HSE inspector, Sarah Palfreyman felt that the danger was clearly visible and hence totally avoidable. The company had received quotes from two companies that dealt in water treatment, but had not taken action on any of them. It had also received a notification about the huge levels of bacteria present in the towers, which could prove hazardous. However, with the company doing nothing to stop the spread of the bacteria, the
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