General Motors plans to reopen its Cole Engineering Center on Oct. 1 after detecting and clearing Legionella bacteria in the facility.
The Detroit automaker closed the building on its Warren campus on the evening of Sept. 10 after two employees tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease, a type of pneumonia.
As was first reported by the Detroit Free Press, the roughly 11,000 employees who work in the Cole building were told to work from home or another location.
Notably, no traces of the bacteria were found in the building’s cooling and heating systems. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, the most common way a bacterial infection occurs is by breathing in mist containing Legionella.
Testing revealed traces of Legionella, the bacterium that causes the illness, “in a portion of the sinks and drinking fountains” in the Cole building, according to a Sept. 26 statement from GM spokeswoman Tara Kuhnen. Those fountains will remain closed even when employees return to work, Kuhnen said.
“After comprehensive testing, support from the Macomb County Health Department and third-party experts, GM will reopen the Global Technical Center Cole building on Oct. 1,” said the statement. “Testing showed that cooling towers that supply HVAC for the building were negative for Legionella. The well-being of our employees remains our highest priority, and we are executing a full remediation plan.”
An employee walks past one of several art installations on the walls at the General Motors Cole Engineering Center at the Warren Technical Center In Warren on Dec 7, 2022.
It is difficult to contract Legionnaires’ disease simply from drinking water, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, unless a person aspirates, meaning droplets of infected water make their way into the person’s lungs.
GM confirmed that the strains of Legionella found at Cole do not match those of the employees who previously tested positive.
Fluctuations in water chlorination and periods of building inactivity can inadvertently contribute to bacterial growth, the company said, and it added it is working closely with water treatment experts and local health authorities to investigate these potential factors to prevent future issues.
Outside the two employees that tested positive, no new cases have been reported, GM confirmed.
Jackie Charniga covers General Motors for the Free Press. Reach her at [email protected]. Jamie L. LaReau is the senior autos writer who covers Ford Motor Co. for the Detroit Free Press. Contact Jamie at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. To sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM to reopen Warren tech building after clearing Legionella
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