News » Prefabricated construction a cost to lives?
Prefabricated construction may be saving money but at what potential cost to lives?
A hospital using prefabricated elements in the construction of a new tower is at the heart of a lawsuit in the USA. The complaint claims that the construction was by a “pre-fabricated method,” in which corridor modules, bathroom pods and patient room headwalls were assembled in leased warehouses a few miles away from the hospital construction site.
It is claimed that the construction company performed water pressure tests on those units, and then let them sit in the warehouses for months, allowing the Legionella bacteria to develop and propogate.
At the time of the outbreak, it is reported that hospital officials suspected the Legionella bacteria colonized during construction of the $135 million new hospital tower. It shut down the patient tower’s water system for sterilization.
For more information on the management of Legionella, contact your local HBI office or email sales@hbi.ie
