WOBO thanks the Safety and Health Practitioner for the link to the article by Antony Paskin, Senior Consultant at Water Hygiene Center
It is essential to maintain and manage our buildings to ensure the occupants and users are protected
It is very important to ensure you understand exactly what needs to be done on your site(s) to ensure compliance with guidance, as a minimum; if there are any areas of ambiguity these should be resolved as soon as possible.
Legionnaires’ Disease is considered a preventable disease because we inadvertently design and build systems that may facilitate the growth of Legionella bacteria to a level that represents a risk to public health. It is therefore the Landlord/Duty holder’s responsibility to ensure that the property/properties under their control are suitably managed to mitigate Legionella risk – as far as reasonably practicable.
If you are using a water hygiene company, then ask yourself are they a member of the Legionella Control Association? Membership requires an organisation to provide a commitment to ensure that all clients are aware of their obligations under ACoP L8, HSG274 and any other applicable guidance, such as (S)HTM 04-01or (S)HTM 01-05 safe water in healthcare premises, which provides the basis for all controls you may require.
Legionella risk assessment
A Legionella risk assessment for your property should be carried out to identify the assets on site and the required pre-planned maintenance. Once the schedule of pre-planned maintenance tasks begins, the findings should be reviewed, and actions taken if the results fall outside the recommended ranges.