News

A private care home has been ordered to pay £40,000 in fines and costs after it failed to manage the risk of elderly residents.

The care home was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after it failed to comply with an Improvement Notice to assess the risk from the legionella bacteria.

It was first served with an Improvement Notice in November 2011, following a visit from a HSE inspector as the care home did not have a system in place for managing its hot and cold water.

Without proper controls legionella bacteria can build up in water systems where the temperature is between 20 and 45 degrees Celsius, creating the risk that small droplets containing the bacteria could be breathed when water becomes airborne, such as in showers.

The court heard that up to 50 residents, as well as the nursing home's employees, could have been put at risk of contracting Legionnaires' disease if the bacteria had been present.

The home was fined £6,525 and ordered to pay £33,475 in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.