Part of the Legionella Data Index · curated record, last reviewed July 2026
| Defendant | Year | Region | Fine | Prosecutor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tendring District Council A member of the public contracted Legionnaires' disease from the water system at the council-run Walton-on-the-Naze leisure centre. HSE found inadequate risk assessments, insufficient staff training and a lack of monitoring across several council leisure sites. Fined £27,000 plus £7,197 costs and a £170 victim surcharge at Colchester Magistrates' Court in December 2018. Source
|
2018 | East of England | £27k | HSE |
|
Barrow Borough Council Death/outbreak The August 2002 Barrow-in-Furness outbreak killed seven people and made around 180 ill, the source being a poorly maintained air-conditioning cooling system at the council-run Forum 28 arts centre. The council was convicted of breaching HSWA s3(1) and fined £125,000 plus £90,000 costs in July 2006. It was the first UK public body to face corporate manslaughter charges, which were dropped before the HSWA conviction. A named council employee was separately prosecuted as an individual and is not recorded here. Source
|
2006 | North West England | £125k | HSE |
This is a curated record of significant, well-documented cases, not a complete list of every prosecution in the sector, and it skews towards fatal and heavily reported cases. Cases with no fine (a conditional discharge, for example) count as prosecutions but add nothing to the fines total. The full record, the curation rules and the correction policy are on the Legionella Enforcement Tracker.
Past prosecutions show what courts have punished; they say nothing about any individual building. The failings that recur in these cases - no risk assessment, no written scheme, no monitoring records, warnings ignored - are exactly what the baseline controls address.
Free legionella risk assessment template
A structured Word document following the five-step approach in ACOP L8. Covers risk identification, written scheme, monitoring, and records. If it isn't written down, you can't evidence it.
Follows ACoP L8 and HSG274 Part 2. Free. No spam.