The Health Protection Agency today announced the
findings of the Griffin Inquiry into the E.Coli 0157 outbreak at
Godstone farm in August 2009.
This is the largest outbreak of people affected by
E Coli 0157 linked to an open farm in the UK. There were 93 people
affected and of those 76 were children aged under 10. Of the
93, 27 were admitted to hospital and 17 developed serious
kidney problems. Jill Greenfield, partner at law firm Field
Fisher Waterhouse is currently co-ordinating a group action on
behalf of a significant number of the children who suffered serious
consequences due to their exposure to the E.Coli 0157 whilst
visiting the farm.
The Griffin Inquiry highlights numerous failings
at many levels both in the way that Godstone Farm managed its
appreciation of the risks to its visitors, but also in relation to
the various authorities that were involved in the regulation and
subsequent recommended closure of this farm. The report
highlights that, at its peak, 1 in 100 visiting Godstone Farm were
exposed to E.Coli 0157.
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Commenting on the report Jill
Greenfield said:
“It is a relief to see that the Griffin
Inquiry recognises the very serious nature of E.coli 0157 and
differentiates that strain of the bacteria from the normal e-coli
that many of us carry. Too many people seem to think that hand
washing is the answer; this report makes clear that it is not and a
great deal more needs to be done to make Open Farms safe.
From the evidence in the report it does
appear that at every possible level there were fundamental failings
in the handling of the outbreak. Such failings are simply
unacceptable.
Many of the children that I am
representing suffered significant pain and distress and continued
to require medical treatment. We will not know for many years
whether or not they will require further dialysis and/or kidney
transplants. Their parents have also gone through a terrible
experience and it is at least some comfort to them to see that this
inquiry is taking matters so seriously. It is particularly
important that the report gives clear guidance to the open farming
industry in relation to the safety of children and E.Coli 0157
.”
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Jill Greenfield highlights the following key points from the
report:
- The report highlights that the symptoms
from 0157 can result in catastrophic injuries for young children,
causing renal failure, potentially brain damage and death. It
explains that this is a new strain of E.Coli, first noted in the US
in 1982. It is different to those that society usually comes into
contact with.
- It is particularly surprising to us is that
it is clear from this report that the farm had previous experience
of an outbreak of E.Coli 0157 in 2000.
- The Griffin Inquiry states that Godstone
farm failed to provide suitable training to staff members to
identify hazards on the farm and to enact suitable control measures
as required under health & safety law.
- The report suggests that Godstone Farm
showed little evidence that they appreciated the importance of
their own actions in controlling the risk to the visitors and that
they were not proactive in seeking out best practice and limiting
the exposure of visitors to infection by E.Coli 0157.
Specific reference in the report is made
to:
- The fact that children were able to climb
into pens where they would then have been exposed to faecal
material.
- Children’s buggies and wheelchairs were
taken through areas where faecal material would have been
present.
- A deep bedding system in which bedding is
allowed to accumulate in an animal pen over a period of time was
being operated. This would have allowed a build up of faeces
to be present within the pens in which the children then had walked
to feed the animals.
- The indication from the report is that the
farm relied heavily upon the parents’ knowledge of E.Coli 0157 and
appeared to have adopted hand-washing at the expense of other
“crucial controls” (principally the avoidance of faecal
contamination). It is also clear in the report that many
parents do not know and appreciate the danger of E.Coli 0157.
People regularly hear of E.Coli but do not know just how dangerous
this particular strain is.
- This report is hard hitting and makes
serious recommendations that will assist the open farm industry to
regulate and control the running of open farms in the future.
This points to an accreditation scheme and for new regulations to
be put in place allowing children to continue to visit open farms
and to have contact with animals, where it is safe to do
so.
For further information or if you believe you have an E Coli 0157 legal claim please contact Jill Greenfield on 020 7861
4557 or email jill.greenfield@ffw.com