Legionnaire’s disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by Legionella bacteria and can be contracted through breathing in aerosolised water droplets that contain Legionella bacteria. These bacteria thrive in stagnant and warm water at temperatures between 25 and 45 °C. It’s a requirement under the Health and Safety at Work Act that every employer:
- Makes sure, as far as is reasonably practical, the health, safety, and welfare of all employees
- Protects against risks from Legionella bacteria, which may arise from work activities
- Takes the right precautions to reduce the risks of exposure to Legionella
How do I comply?
Here’s a quick five step guide to becoming Legionella compliant:
- Establish a responsible person
- Find a service provider and ensure that they are a member of the Legionella Control Association (LCA)
- Ask your service provider to produce a Risk Assessment and Schematic Drawing
- Produce an outbreak Procedure Plan
- Check your staff understand the process and use regular communication to remind people about the importance of safety
For more information, visit the HSE website.
How can Wave help?
As part of our Active Water Management services, Wave offers both a Legionella Risk Assessment and Legionella Training, so if you choose to complete these steps with us, you can rest easy knowing we’ve got you covered.
Legionella Risk Assessment
It’s important to carry out an assessment of potential risks of exposure to Legionella bacteria in your water systems at least every two years in order to stay compliant and ensure the health and safety of your employees. Contact us for a bespoke Legionella Risk Assessment, which aims to help you protect your business and reduce the risks of exposure to Legionella bacteria. It also means you know you’re compliant with the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice for the control of Legionella bacteria in water systems (commonly known as the “L8 regs”).
Once you’ve contacted us, we’ll carry out a full risk assessment on all the buildings on your site that are a place of work or can be accessed by the public. It’ll include:
- Taking a full asset register of all water services in the building.
- Taking water temperature measurements to assess the performance of the hot and cold-water system within your building.
- A full schematic diagram of the water system.
- Taking photographs of key water system features.
Once complete, we’ll provide you with an electronic copy, which includes expert advice and recommendations based on the findings.
Legionella Training
Everyone at your site must understand Legionella and their responsibilities in order to be compliant with regulation. Our training sessions are 2-3 hours long and carried out either virtually on MS Teams or on site by our Legionella specialists. The training will provide a general awareness of Legionella, and as part of the onsite training our specialists can also show your in-house maintenance staff how to monitor the temperature and make sure it’s being recorded correctly.
Contact us and we can arrange to work with you to activate the 5 steps listed above and make sure your business is Legionella compliant.
