This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/7483569.stm

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Fine for Legionnaires' cider firm Fine for Legionnaires' cider firm
(about 4 hours later)
Cider maker HP Bulmer and water treatment contractor Nalco have each been fined £300,000 over a fatal outbreak of Legionnaires' disease. Cider maker HP Bulmer and its water treatment contractor Nalco have each been fined £300,000 over a fatal outbreak of Legionnaires' disease.
Two people died and 26 others were affected in the outbreak in Hereford in 2003, the city's crown court heard. Two people died and more than 20 others fell ill in Hereford in 2003, the city's crown court heard.
The outbreak was caused by sub-standard cleaning and maintenance of a cooling tower, the court was told. Judge Alistair McCreath said a failure to clean two cooling towers adequately at Bulmer's mill in Plough Lane in 2003 was "almost beyond belief".
Bulmers and Nalco pleaded guilty last year to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act. The two firms had admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act.
There were "critical" failings at Bulmers' cider mill in Hereford, prosecutor Mark Harris said. Legionella 'flourishing'
Nalco, which is based in Northwich, Cheshire, and Bulmers pleaded guilty last year to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure the safety of persons not in their employment. They were also ordered to pay more than £50,000 each in prosecution costs.
High priority Nalco, based in Northwich, Cheshire, and the cider firm pleaded guilty last year to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act by failing to ensure the safety of persons not in their employment.
Opening the case against the firms, Mr Harris told the court the outbreak had been traced to cooling tower number nine at the cider maker's site in Plough Lane. The sentencing hearing was told that legionella bacteria were found in two cooling towers following the deaths of an elderly man and a 56-year-old woman in the winter of 2003.
Mr Harris told Judge Alistair McCreath that two cooling towers were not cleaned properly before being pressed into use following the apple harvest in 2003. Judge McCreath criticised both firms for their roles in the "woefully inadequate" cleaning of the towers in September 2003.
Earlier prosecutor Mark Harris said that the outbreak was traced to cooling tower number nine at the Plough Lane site.
Of the 28 cases, the age range of the victims was between 36 and 91 and 21 of the victims were men, he said.Of the 28 cases, the age range of the victims was between 36 and 91 and 21 of the victims were men, he said.
Most of those infected required hospital treatment, the court heard, although five patients were treated at home. Describing the circumstances which led to legionella "flourishing" inside two cooling towers, Mr Harris said Bulmer had then operated an outdated water treatment policy and also had deficiencies in its staff training.
Mark Bishop, acting for Bulmers, apologised to the public on behalf of the company and said it was totally resolved to prevent anything like the outbreak from ever happening again. Nalco had failed to comply with its contractual obligations to Bulmer by failing to adequately clean the towers and had also carried out an inadequate risk assessment on behalf of the cider-maker.
The firm had placed a high priority on understanding what had gone wrong, the lawyer said. In a statement released after the hearing, a spokesman for HP Bulmer said it took its role in the community very seriously.
He said it had worked closely with the Health and Safety Executive to trace and eliminate the source of the outbreak.