Health consequences of poor cleaning underlined, Office Cleaning

Health consequences of poor cleaning underlined - 01/07/2008

The importance of hiring a good cleaning agency for businesses has been underlined by a recent outbreak of Legionnaires' disease at a Hereford cider mill.

Sub-standard work by commercial cleaners at the HP Bulmer's site was the cause of the outbreak, the court heard.

The outbreak hit more than 20 people, killing two, in December 2003 after two towers were not cleaned properly.

Bulmers were fined £300,000 for their misdemeanour.

Judge Alistair McCreath told Hereford Crown Court: "The fines which I will impose today are not, nor could they ever be, any measure of the value of the two lives lost nor of the grief of those who mourn them.

"I accept that the breaches in this case were not committed with a view to profit and I accept that they were not deliberate."

The waterborne disease could so easily make an appearance in other places of work, such as in the city, perhaps if firms do not use office cleaning services.