Legionella found in Scottish harbour ice machine

Another Legionella story from our home country, Scotland. A health and safety watchdog pointed the finger at Ullapool harbour authourities stating that a poorly maintained ice machine had become a breeding ground for Legionella bacteria. HSE personnel are quoted as saying that this put harbour workers at risk of catching Legionnaires disease.

Ullapool is a beautiful fishing town in the north west of Scotland on lovely Loch Broom. It is also a passenger ferry terminal for tourists visiting the Western Isles of Scotland. More than 15 million visitor trips were made in Scotland in 2014. Visitors spending almost 5 billion pounds. Many of these visitors will have passed through Ullapool, a gateway to one of Scotland’s most popular tourist destinations. These tourists will also have been put at risk, not just harbour workers. While better maintenance would prevent the problem, clearly regular reminders through on-site testing would provide timely warnings of any hazards from Legionella bacteria. Why would we want to put tourists and the tourist industry at risk?