Company fined £600,000 after prisoner died from legionella bacteria in water

Legionella bacteria was found in the shower blocks at HMP Lincoln (Joe Giddens/PA) - (PA Archive)

A company which provided services in a prison has been fined £600,000 after an inmate died following a failure to manage bacteria in the water.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said Amey Community Limited did not to manage the risk of legionella bacteria in the water systems at HMP Lincoln before the death of Graham Butterworth.

The HSE began an investigation following the death of Mr Butterworth, 71, who was serving a sentence at the prison, on December 5 2017 after he contracted Legionnaires’ disease, which is a type of pneumonia.

Water samples from his cell and the prison shower blocks tested positive for legionella, which causes the disease, days after Mr Butterworth’s death.

The occupants of HMP Lincoln had been put at risk of legionella bacteria and developing Legionnaires’ disease because of Amey Community Limited’s failures

Stacey Gamwell, HSE inspector

Amey Community Limited, of Furnival Street, London, pleaded guilty to a health and safety offence, and was fined at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

The investigation by the HSE found that the company, which provides facilities management services at the prison, failed to act on a risk assessment carried out in 2016.

It found that it did not have a scheme for preventing and controlling legionella risks, failed to ensure that appropriate water temperatures were maintained, and did not monitor water temperatures in the system in October and November 2017.

This allowed the bacteria to multiply “rapidly”, the HSE said.

The company was fined at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court (Rui Vieira/PA) (PA Archive)

Legionnaires’ disease is contracted by breathing in droplets of water containing the bacteria.

HSE inspector Stacey Gamwell said: “There is a legal duty to keep workers and inmates safe in prisons. The occupants of HMP Lincoln had been put at risk of legionella bacteria and developing Legionnaires’ disease because of Amey Community Limited’s failures.

“Companies such as Amey Community Limited need to ensure they have identified any risk of legionella and have suitable and sufficient arrangements in place for managing the risk and control measures they have implemented.”