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May/June 2023 issue

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Council pays £27,000 over Legionnaires’ case that put leisure centre users at significant risk

Open-access content Monday 10th December 2018
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 3 years old.

Council pays £27,000 over Legionnaires' case that put leisure centre users at significant risk

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which launched an investigation into the incident at Walton Lifestyles in Walton-on-the-Naze in November 2016, identified a failure in the council's system for managing the risk of legionella.

Colchester Magistrates' Court was told that the regular user of the centre's facilities, fell seriously ill and was taken to hospital where he remained for 18 days. He was diagnosed with Legionnaires' Disease, sepsis, pneumonia and chronic kidney failure.

The investigating officer said the council's failures could easily have led to a fatality and Walton Lifestyles users were put at significant risk.

Water samples were taken from the men's shower and tested positive for legionella bacteria.

The HSE found that the council had failed to adequately manage the water systems at a number of leisure centres in the district, including Walton Lifestyles, Dovercourt Lifestyles and Clacton Leisure Centre.

Significant failings included not having suitable and sufficient legionella risk assessments for the leisure facilities. Staff were not adequately trained, and a lack of monitoring meant the failures went unnoticed for several months.

HSE inspector Tania van Rixtel said: "Controls such as maintaining water temperatures, regular flushing of low-use outlets and adequate cleaning are all necessary in order to reduce the risk of legionella developing."

Van Rixtel said that, given the number of people who use the facilities, the potential legionella risk to the public would have been significant.

The council, which pleaded guilty to breaching s 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act, was fined £27,000 and must pay £7,500 costs.

Chief executive Ian Davidson apologised to the individual who was affected and reassured customers that the council's legionella management systems had been overhauled.

"I would like to reassure the public, and particularly our leisure centre customers, that our leisure centres are safe," he said.

He added that the council took its health and safety responsibilities seriously and said: "We deeply regret that standards fell below the high level that we hold ourselves to, and we know which the public expect from us-¦ We fully accept the fine issued by the court."

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©iStock/jarun011

 Essex council faces prosecution over Legionnaires’ case

Tuesday 13th November 2018
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation in November 2016 after the visitor to the Walton-on-the-Naze Lifestyles centre fell ill and was hospitalised. Tests showed the showers and fitness room at the council-owned complex contained legionella bacteria, the BBC reported at the time. Ian Davidson, chief executive of Tendring District Council, confirmed that the local authority is to be prosecuted, but said its systems for managing the risk of legionella have been upgraded since the incident.
Open-access content
Image credit: ORR

 Balfour Beatty fined £333k for contractor’s station crush

Wednesday 12th December 2018
The incident happened at Whitechapel station in east London in the early hours of 4 June 2016 when Balfour Beatty Rail and LUL were working in a joint enterprise arrangement called Track Partnership renewing track on the Metropolitan Line.  Track Partnership had scheduled weekend ballast replacement work at Liverpool Street and Aldgate East stations, using seven RRVs at each site. The 14 machines, which are used for lifting, digging and levelling track, moved in convoy from West Ham sidings to the stations.
Open-access content

 Christmas decoration stowing ladder fall sees social club in court

Friday 7th December 2018
Roger Ingleby, a member of Lea Hall Social Club in Rugeley, was putting extra decorations back in the club's loft on 29 November 2015 when the loft ladder gave way dropping him two metres on to a staircase. He was taken to hospital and subsequently underwent several operations, but his injuries cut short his career as a civil engineer.
Open-access content
Image credit: HSE. The development at Cranbrook Road, Wimbledon

 Director’s neglect behind concrete pump fatality

Thursday 6th December 2018
Twenty-six-year-old Kevin Hoare was attempting to clear a blockage when the incident happened at a housing development on Cranbrook Road, Wimbledon on 13 February 2017. Hoare, who had only joined Anytime McDaids two months earlier, was not being supervised and had not been provided with adequate training.
Open-access content

 130 km/h component strike brings plastics maker £293k fine

Wednesday 5th December 2018
Nylacast worker Tarsem Singh died of a heart attack in hospital on 16 April 2016, a day after he sustained the strike, which was the equivalent to the force of eight tonnes, The Leicester Mercury reported.A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found that the 52-year-old employee was in the process of removing the plastic component from a casting machine when the incident happened at the firm's Thurmaston Boulevard site in Leicester.
Open-access content
Image credit: ©imageBROKER/REX/Shutterstock

 Balfour Beatty and London Underground fined £433k for track worker’s crush injuries

Monday 3rd December 2018
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) investigation found that both companies were aware of the risks associated with allowing workers to walk along the track in front of a RRV, which is used for lifting, digging or levelling track, but had failed to put a safe system of work in place before the incident happened in the early hours of 4 June 2016.
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