Legionnaire’s Disease Risk Assessments

B & V Water Treatment's experienced team of risk assessors have carried out tens of thousands of Legionella risk assessments for customers throughout the UK. The high standards and ease of use of our risk assessments sets us apart.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 places all responsibility on employers, employees and the self employed to do all that is responsibly practicable to ensure the safety of not only the people at the place of work, but also other people that may be effected by the work activity.

It has been established that poor management of water systems has been one of the prime reasons for the deterioration of water quality, which can lead to the formation of the Legionella bacteria.

For this reason, Legionella control is vital and a positive effort is required by all parties concerned with the maintenance of water systems to set up a water hygiene management scheme.

In order to provide a practical guideline on this matter, The Health and Safety Commission in 2000 produced an Approved Code of Practise and Guidance ‘The Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems’ L8. (ACOP L8). This gives advice on how to comply with the law and also has a special legal status in that if a person or company are prosecuted for a breach of Health and Safety Law, and it is proved that the relevant provisions of the ACOP have not been followed, then the court will find the person at fault, unless it can be proved that the law has been complied with in some other way.

The subjects covered by the ACOP L8 that are relevant for all types of water systems, are as follows:

• Identification and assessment of risk
• Managing the risk, management of responsibilities, training and competence
• Preventing or controlling the risk from exposure to Legionella
• Record keeping
• Responsibilities of manufacturers, importers, suppliers and installers

In order to comply with the first requirement of the ACOP, and to make a valid decision as to whether there is a potential risk from any water system, it is essential that a risk assessment is carried out to establish the site conditions.

Once this risk assessment has been completed, it then becomes the responsibility of the management of an establishment to comply with the remaining sections, and manage the system so that the risk from Legionella is minimised.

The B & V Logbook System enables operators of systems that are capable of producing Legionella, such as cooling towers, to comply with the HSE requirements. This is done not just with a risk assessment, but also with the methods and log sheets that should be adopted to accompany the risk assessment and therefore control the risk.

The logbook is simple to use and by completing the relevant log sheets the manager of the water system can fulfil their legal obligations within the Health and Safety at Work Act 0174 and the latest COSHH Regulations.

For more information on B & V Legionnaire’s Disease Risk Assessments, please contact our offices on 0844 372 7344 or e-mail us on enquiries@bvwater.co.uk