Foot-and-mouth virus was not released into the environment on this occasion, a court heard.

Pirbright has been prosecuted for licence breach

A world renowned research facility has been prosecuted for safety failings in experiments with cattle infected by foot-and-mouth disease (FMDV).

The Pirbright Institute in Surrey was fined £22,350 and ordered to pay another £50,000 costs after pleading guilty to eight breaches of the Specified Animals Pathogens Order (SAPO) 2008, which was issued by Defra.

While the safety breaches did not lead to a release of FMDV into the environment, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which regulates the institute on behalf of Defra, says the failings were considered serious enough for legal action.

The institute was prosecuted by HSE on April 30 for two incidents in November 2012 and January 2013, in parts of a contained facility holding infected animals. A ventilation system designed to create negative pressure was operated in a different configuration from normal.

Due to the highly contagious nature of FMDV, the institute is required to maintain high levels of control.

Changes to operating procedures at such a facility must be properly planned, assessed and approved by HSE and Defra.

To ensure FMDV cannot escape airborne, the facility should be maintained at differential negative pressures to ensure air containing FMDV is drawn from clean areas into dirty ones, before being filter cleaned.

City of London Magistrates' Court heard that on the first occasion, there was no effective alarm system to alert staff to the loss of negative air pressure. As a result the November incident did not emerge until the January incident was investigated.

The court was told the breaches did not lead to a detected release of the virus and remaining safeguards were sufficient to prevent a serious event.

Speaking after the hearing, Dr Simon Warne, principal specialist inspector from HSE's biological agents unit, explained:

"At facilities where research is undertaken with foot-and-mouth disease virus it is imperative that control measures are applied in a rigorous way.

"In common with other sites that pose major or significant hazards, either to people or the environment, there needs to be protection in depth."

In a statement, the Pirbright Insititute said it "pleaded guilty to the charges, accepts full responsibility and apologises for the failure to comply with SAPO requirements."

The institute says all similar work has been stopped and will not begin again until procedures are agreed with HSE and Defra. Pirbright's trustee board has launched an independent review.

Dr Warne said: "The fact that the Pirbright Institute has today pleaded guilty to all eight offences demonstrates that they recognise the failings in their controls that existed at that time.

"HSE has and will continue to work closely with the institute to ensure appropriate management arrangements and controls are in place to support its important research work."