Part of the Legionella Data Index · curated record, last reviewed July 2026
| Defendant | Year | Region | Fine | Prosecutor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Riaar Plastics Limited Five people, including members of the public, contracted Legionnaires' disease near a West Bromwich plastics factory in 2020, one needing intensive care. The site's cooling towers were in extremely poor condition. Source
|
2023 | West Midlands | £50k | HSE |
|
Isher Hangers (K & S Chatha) The owners of a Birmingham hanger manufacturer failed to control legionella from a cooling tower, ignoring their own consultants' warnings and having no risk assessment, on a site near two hospitals. Each received a 12-week sentence suspended for 12 months, a rare custodial legionella outcome. Source
|
2020 | West Midlands | n/a | HSE |
|
Faltec Europe Limited Legionella grew to potentially lethal levels in recirculating cooling water at a car-parts factory in 2014 to 2015; five people including a local resident contracted the disease. The HSE had repeatedly warned of dead legs and damaged drift eliminators. Source
|
2018 | North East England | £800k | HSE |
|
Chromalloy UK Limited An engineering firm ran corroded, poorly treated cooling towers at two sites; a 2012 sample showed legionella so high that immediate cleaning was required, and an HSE inspector was sprayed with aerosol on site. Source
|
2015 | East Midlands | £110k | HSE |
|
Coilcolor Limited A Newport steel-coating firm ran two cooling towers from 2009 with no risk assessment, no written scheme, no water-treatment programme and missing drift eliminators, exposing staff and the public to aerosol. The HSE served prohibition notices stopping the towers being used. Source
|
2015 | Wales | £75k | 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, and our sector guide for factories and industrial premises walks through them.
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.