Amey Community Ltd has been fined £600,000 after a prisoner contracted Legionnaires’ disease and died while serving a prison sentence at HMP Lincoln.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) opened an investigation following the death of Graham Butterworth, 71, on 5 December 2017.
Water samples from Butterworth’s cell and nearby shower blocks tested positive for legionella days after he died.
The HSE investigation found that Amey Community Ltd, an Amey subsidiary which provided facilities management services at HMP Lincoln, failed to act on a risk assessment carried out in 2016 and to put in place a written scheme for preventing and controlling legionella risks.
The company also failed to ensure that appropriate water temperatures were maintained and failed to monitor water temperatures in the water system in October and November 2017. The HSE said that this allowed legionella bacteria to multiply rapidly.
Amey Community Ltd, of Furnival Street, London, pleaded guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. It was fined £600,000 and ordered to pay £15,186.85 in costs at Lincoln Magistrates’ Court on 3 December 2024.
