A West Yorkshire company has been penalised after two employees at the firm caught potentially fatal Legionnaires' disease.
Kepak UK has been ordered to pay £25,000 with £20,000 in costs at Preston Crown Court for failing to protect workers from contracting the condition, which illustrates the need for plumbers liability insurance.
The prosecution comes as a result of the men being diagnosed in 2006 after coming into contact with contaminated equipment including pressure hoses, a shower and a pressure washer hose point.
Dorothy Shaw, an inspector for the Health and Safety Executive, commented that the company failed to carry out simple checks on the hot and cold water system.
"Legionnaires' disease is a potentially fatal illness and, had the correct procedures been in place, the outbreak at Kepak's premises would not have occurred," she explained.
In August 2002, seven members of the public died and 180 people suffered ill health in Barrow following a Legionnaires' outbreak, which illustrates the need for liability insurance.