What is a Legionella Risk Assessment?

Legionella Risk Assessment is a controlled review of a water supply in order to prevent water contamination, which in result can lead to the deadly condition Legionnaires’ Disease. Building owners and/or managers are responsible for identifying potential risks to water systems, which can include contamination from legionella bacteria amongst other things. Duties under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (HSWA) extend to risks from legionella bacteria, which may arise from work activities. The Approved Code of Practice: Legionnaires’ disease: The control of Legionella bacteria in water systems (L8) contains practical guidance on how to manage and control the risks in your system. Therefore, business owners and or managers must be fully compliant with these codes of practice. With so many acts, guidelines and legislation to follow, and due to the serious consequences of not testing your water supply we highly recommend you employ a water treatment contractor such as Water Hygiene Services to undertake the management of your water systems. Water Hygiene Services will ensure the correct precautions are undertaken in order to reduce the risks of exposure to legionella. We work hard to;

• Identify and assess any sources of risk
• Manage all risks (if discovered)
• Prevent or control any risks
• Maintain and file an accurate record
• Carry out any other duties you may have as agreed before a site visit

When Water Hygiene Services is appointed to conduct a risk assessment, this is a list of steps we undertake;

• We list the management responsibilities, including the name of the competent person and a description of your system
• We identify potential risk sources
• We determine if there are any means of preventing the risk or if there are controls in place to control risks
• We monitor, inspect and maintain procedures
• We record the monitoring results, inspection and checks carried out
• We arrange a date to review the risk assessment regularly, particularly when there is a reason to suspect it is no longer valid.

If the result of your risk assessment means that there is no foreseeable risk or the risks are low and the water supply is being properly managed to comply with the law, your risk assessment is now complete. It is hugely important for you to set up regular risk assessments with your water servicing contractor to ensure the water system is being analysed for potential threats. Do not leave it too long in between risk assessments. If the result of the risk assessment is that further work must be carried out our team of highly trained staff will be able to supply you with a no-obligation quote to complete the remaining works. —————————————————————————————————————————— Water Hygiene services is a member of the Legionella Control Association, therefore you can be assured of our quality and professionalism. View our membership here. We offer a range of services from Legionella Training Services, Mains Chlorination, RPZ Valve Testing, Monitoring and more. Please view the full range of services we offer here. If you would like to discuss an upcoming Risk Assessment, or if you think you may require once, please contact the team today on 0113 267 9785 or email info@waterhygieneservices.co.uk]]>