Via Scotsman.com, a June 12 report: Legionnaires’ outbreak: Second Edinburgh firm given Improvement Notices. Excdrpt:
A SECOND company being investigated as one of the potential sources of the lethal outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease has been issued with health and safety warnings.
• Six more confirmed and suspected cases of Legionnaires’ bug taking total number of patients to 88
• Macfarlan Smith Ltd issued with two Improvement Notices regarding health and safety
• Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon confirms rise in cases to be expected given 14-day incubation period
The move came as news of six more confirmed and suspected cases of the bug were revealed – three times more than the previous day – taking the total number of patients to 88.
Fourteen people are now being treated for the disease in intensive care wards and a further 26 on general wards.
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Macfarlan Smith Ltd was today issued with two Improvement Notices – one relating to the cleaning of one of its cooling towers and the other relating to the provision of access for inspection and maintenance of the same tower in the Gorgie area of Edinburgh.
The move comes three days after another company, North British Distillery Company, was told by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) it had failed to devise and implement a “sustained and effective” biocide control programme in one of its cooling towers.
The HSE said its experts would be visiting the other four sites under investigation as possible sources for the outbreak which has already claimed the life of 56-year-old Robert Air.
On the brighter side, another Scotsman story published at midnight June 13 says no new patients have been reported, and the number of cases remains at 88.
