It is possible that those who work in your company, whether they are in a factory, warehouse, healthcare facility, or office setting, might be in danger if your company has a water system that provides the ideal habitat for legionella bacteria development. And for the same reason, you need to do a legionella risk assessment.
As part of a legionnaires disease risk assessment, look for Legionella pneumophila and Pseudomonas, other pathogens, chemical pollution, and possible interruptions to the water supply.
The water system, storage, distribution, maintenance, and consumption should be considered. In addition to a Legionella risk assessment, clinical risk assessments identifying the susceptibility of building occupants and routes via which water may come into contact with patients and invasive medical equipment should also be performed.
Also, your annual business budget must include legionella risk assessment costs when you are into a business that might risk legionella.
Legionella has Known To Cause A Variety Of Illnesses.
There is a greater danger of legionella in a water system that stores or flows backwater at a temperature of 20–45 °C.
When it comes to water contamination, you should also be aware of the presence of breathable droplets or other sources of nutrition for the growth of an organism in your water system.
All employees are at risk from Legionnaires Disease; however, there are a few groups who are more vulnerable to the disease:
- Employees having age above 40+
- smokers & alcoholics
- Individuals that are infirm or old
- Suffering from a chronic pulmonary or kidney disease
- Those at risk have weakened immune systems.
It is important that any workers who fall into one of these groups be evaluated more regularly than the rest.
If you run a company, manage a property, or rent it out, you are likely responsible for ensuring that the water supply is safe for your employees, renters, and other visitors. It’s a legal necessity that you do a legionella risk assessment of your property to ensure that you comply with the law in this area.
What Is Meant To Have A Legionella Risk Assessment?
To do a legionnaires disease risk assessment, a building’s water systems and everything that utilizes water in the facility must be thoroughly inspected.
Pipes, boilers, water tanks, faucets, and showers would all be part of the inspection. This law should cover any activity that involves the usage of water.
Cooling towers, spa pools, and fountains may also be incorporated in bigger commercial facilities with several floors. The legionnaires’ assessment should include any facility that utilizes, transports, or stores water in this manner.
Conducting a legionella risk assessment is the first step toward ensuring compliance with the law; it is strongly advised that you hire an external professional to undertake this assignment, as it will serve as the basis for your continuous control strategy.
The legionnaires’ disease risk assessment should contain the following information:
- Procedures for monitoring, inspection, and maintenance
- Anything can be done to prevent the threat or at least lessen its impact.
- Particulars on any possible danger sources that have been discovered
- Responsibilities of management, including the name of the responsible person
- Competence and education of critical employees
- Diagrams of the water system
- Specifics on the current control scheme
- Identifying sentinel outlets
Is It Necessary To Do A Legionella Risk Assessment Regularly?
Different circumstances dictate how often you reassess your risk assessment. The ACOP L8 rules of the Health and Safety Executive indicate that the risk assessment is evaluated regularly, particularly if there is cause to believe it is no longer valid.
As per the ACOP, a legionella risk assessment can be seen as a dynamic record that is always being revised.
A new risk assessment should be conducted whenever major modifications are made to the water system.
Consider that important personnel, such as the responsible person or significant contractors, have shifted or that your legionella control processes have become ineffective. Then you should review your legionella assessment report.
While an initial risk assessment may be sufficient for basic water systems such as an apartment building’s sprinkler system, a thorough risk assessment is recommended for more complicated water systems, such as those found in large commercial buildings.
Wrap Up
Water hygiene concerns in healthcare facilities need regular assessments and modifications to the risk assessment. Also, it would help if you allocated legionella risk assessment cost in the maintenance cost.
The frequency of Legionella risk assessments should be based on both risk and a more regular cross-referencing of specified review criteria.
The more complicated the building and water infrastructure are, the more likely you will benefit from employing a professional business-like Orbis environment that can offer certified and experienced personnel to do a full legionella risk assessment. In addition, they can tell you whether a legionella risk assessment is necessary.
For more information contact us at [email protected] or dial 01656 470 044.
