Legionella bacteria causes Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. to temporarily close office

LAWRENCE COUNTY, Pa. — Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. has closed its Wilmington Road building after legionella bacteria was discovered on the premises.

The company released this statement regarding the situation:

"While conducting regular HVAC system maintenance and testing, one water sample taken from the water-cooling tower located on the roof of the building, came back positive for Legionella Bacteria. This bacterium can be found occurring naturally in environments that contain warm water such as HVAC cooling towers and large plumbing systems."

"Based on this test result, we believe the prudent action was to close the building and conduct further testing.  We immediately contacted the State and County Boards of Health to ensure we follow all required reporting and testing procedures.  Concurrently we notified employees of the office closure and will continue to provide them with updated reports as we receive more information.  Because there have been no employee reports of symptoms,  the County Board of Health will monitor the situation and has advised us that we are taking all appropriate measures in this situation."

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. is expected to update employees about the situation Saturday afternoon.

WPXI