A cautionary tale of legionella and hysteria

 

A note appeared on the tap in the kitchen area of our departmental common room: ‘do not use’. This made the usual arrangement for washing up cups of tea and coffee etc. impossible in this room, caused unwashed crockery to pile up, and caused a little annoyance and frustration. Eventually, I managed to speak to a plumber involved in dealing with the tap. He explained that the ‘clean water people’ had left the note because of possible legionella. He also said that the explanation was not provided on the note ‘to avoid hysteria’ in members of staff who would see it. It’s the classic ‘don’t tell the public about the threat as they’ll only panic’ scenario. Those with the information on a possible threat think that the public will overreact or be subject to undue fear if they learn of the threat. Therefore, they restrict that information – in this case they leave the note without mentioning legionella. But the real risk – in this case as in many examples of restricting information to avoid public ‘panic’ -- is not unwarranted fear. Rather it is the public not realising the danger. Not realising that legionella is involved in the tap situation, which is also present in contaminated aerosols or mist (which can be inhaled), could easily lead to staff members touching the tap, running the water, standing too close to running water and so on. The real danger in many emergencies is not panic, but not realizing that it's an emergency. So trust the public with the truth.