Water samples were collected from the mine last week after two miners tested positive for the disease and 12 others displayed symptoms.

Carter said the source of the disease has not yet been confirmed, but the company has carried out a full and comprehensive risk assessment with Queensland Health and site safety and health representatives.

“We wouldn’t be working if we hadn’t actually done it according to the proper guidelines,” Carter said.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union representative Steve Smythe said despite ongoing discussions with Anglo Coal and the Health Department, the union was unconvinced miners should have been sent back to work in the mine.

“At the moment we are still a bit apprehensive about it all because they still haven’t got the results as to where it [Legionella bacteria] could have come from,” Smythe said.

He said it is believed that the Legionella bacteria originated in the cooling towers at the surface of the mine as early as October this year, however test results have not yet confirmed the source.

The cooling towers that pump air into the mine have since been shut down.

“They’ve backed themselves into a corner … if the results come back and it’s not the cooling towers, there’s going to be an awful lot of egg on people’s faces,” Smythe said.

“The results will probably come back and say there is nothing there anymore, but they needed to verify it was the cooling towers before they sent miners back to work,” Smythe said.

When the mine resumed production earlier this week, most miners returned to work but some utilised their rights under the Coal Mining Act to stay on the surface.

Smythe said the situation had been handled differently because of the nature of the workplace.

“If the Anglo head office in Brisbane had a possible legionnaire’s scare in the building air conditioners, I’m sure they wouldn’t want their people sitting in the office wearing dust masks.”