The Legionella Index: North West England

In 2018 every water sample at a Birkenhead sheltered-housing scheme tested positive for legionella. The water system was poorly managed, staff were inadequately trained, and residents were wrongly told the water could be boiled and used. Vulnerable residents were evacuated; no one fell ill. Source

A Wallasey care home had no system to manage its hot and cold water and failed to comply with an HSE improvement notice despite two extensions, putting elderly residents at risk. Source

Guests contracted Legionnaires' disease from a contaminated water storage tank feeding a chalet at the Lytham St Annes holiday camp, and a guest died. The company's own temperature records showed water held below recommended levels, and warnings were not acted upon. Convicted at Preston Crown Court in 2012 of breaching HSWA ss.2(1) and 3(1). Because the firm was in administration, a nominal £1,000 fine plus £10,000 costs was imposed; the judge said a fine near £500,000 would otherwise have applied. (Sources differ on whether HSE or the local authority led the prosecution.) Source

High legionella levels were found in the Audrey Leigh wing in May 2002, but the Trust stopped testing, assigned no one responsibility for managing the bacteria, and had no suitable control measures. Two patients died of Legionnaires' disease in early 2007, but HSE could not conclusively link those infections to the hospital, so the conviction is for the safety-management failing rather than for causing death. Pleaded guilty and was fined nearly £48,000 at Liverpool Magistrates' Court in 2009. Source

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