Industry news
Second Legionnaire's death recorded
Posted Fri, 15 Jun 2012
There has been a second fatality in the Legionnaires' outbreak in Edinburgh, NHS Lothian has reported.
The man, who had existing medical conditions, passed away on Thursday evening in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. NHS Lothian said that he was one of the previously diagnosed cases in the outbreak, which started in in the city in early June.
On Monday a pharmaceutical company close to where the majority of cases have been reported was given two improvement warnings by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
Macfarlan Smith was ordered to clean its cooling towers and to improve accessibility to the towers for maintenance checks. Last week the nearby North British Distillery Company was also criticised for its lack of a regular and adequate biocide control plan for one of its cooling towers.
The HSE warnings do not suggest any of the towers are responsible for the epidemic. The causes of past epidemics have often never been ascertained.
Copyright Press Association 2012