Legionellosis is a collective term for diseases caused by legionella bacteria including the most serious legionnaires’ disease, as well as the similar but less serious conditions of Pontiac fever and Lochgoilhead fever.
Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia and everyone is susceptible to infection.

Here is a recent story regarding a Legionnaires outbreak;

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-131395/Legionnaires-outbreak-air-conditioning-likely-source.html

Envirochem now offer UKAS accredited legionella tests by using the most up to date scientific techniques, covering any water system in the workplace or domestic environment.

 

For more information on this please fill out the form below or call us on 01329 287 777;

LEGIONELLA RISK ASSESSMENTS

Envirochem offer high level standards legionella risk assessments, fully compliant with the latest British Standards and ACoPL8 (HSE Approved code of practice L8) for a wide range of business sectors including:

• City and county councils
• Schools
• Colleges and universities
• Sport stadiums
• Hotel chains
• Specialist care homes
• NHS hospitals
• Industrial and manufacturing
• Dental practices
• Facilities management agents
• Residential and commercial property

For more on this service or all our services please call on 01329 287 777 or fill out the form below;

 

What is Legionnaires’ Disease?

Legionnaires’ Disease is a pneumonia like illness caused by the Legionella bacteria and can be fatal. The infection is caused by breathing in small droplets of water contaminated by the bacteria. The disease cannot be passed from one person to another.

Legionella bacteria are found in the natural environment and may contaminate and grow in water systems, including domestic hot and cold water systems. They survive low temperatures and thrive at temperatures between 20 – 45°C if the conditions are right. They are killed by high temperatures at 60°C or above.

Risk assessments

Landlords are under a duty to ensure that the risk of exposure to tenants, residents and visitors by Legionella is properly assessed and controlled.

Normally there is no reason why the landlord should not carry out this risk assessment himself/herself so long as they are competent. Usually there will be no need to employ a consultant. The assessment should be a straight forward simple exercise in ordinary domestic premises.

For most residential settings the risk assessment may well show the risks are low so long as simple control measures referred to in the next section are followed. This will apply to houses or flats with small domestic type water systems where the water turnover is high. Provided the risk assessment shows that the risks are insignificant and the control measures are being properly managed no further action would be necessary. It is important, however, to keep the assessment under review periodically in case anything changes to the system.

Control measures

Simple control measures will help manage the risk from Legionella and these should be maintained including:

• flushing out the water system by running all outlets for at least 2 minutes where the premises have not been used e.g. before letting the property or if the property has stood empty for a time
• avoiding debris getting into the system (e.g. making sure cold water tanks, if installed, have a tight fitting lid)
• setting controls so that the hot water is heated to and stored at 60°C
• the removal of any redundant pipe work
• advising tenants to regularly clean, descale and disinfect shower heads

Advice for tenants

Landlords are entitled to expect the tenants will play their part in ensuring control measures are maintained. Landlords should:

• inform tenants of potential risk of exposure to Legionella and its consequences
• tell tenants of any action which arises from the landlords risk assessment if appropriate
• tell tenants to inform the landlord if the hot water system is not heating properly or if there are any other problems with the system
• tell the landlord if the cold water system is not running cold
• tell tenants to keep the water turned over

 

Unoccupied premises

The risk from Legionella may increase if the property is unoccupied even for a short period. It is important that water is not left to stand in the hot or cold water systems. As a general rule, all outlets on hot and cold water systems should be used at least once a week for at least 2 minutes to maintain a degree of water flow and minimise the chances of stagnation. For long periods consider draining the system. Make sure that the system is flushed through when it is re-occupied by running all outlets for at least 2 minutes.

HSE Guidance

HSE have published detailed guidance and the relevant extract relating to residential accommodation is available here.

What is the letting agent’s responsibility?

As already indicated, landlords are responsible for making sure that the risks involving Legionella are properly assessed and controlled. Where a managing agent is used the management contract should specify who has responsibility. Landlords must assume that unless the managing agent takes on this responsibility, they as landlord will be responsible for compliance.

Do landlords need to employ a consultant or undertake sampling tests?

For straight forward residential accommodation the answer to this should be “no” as long as landlords are reasonably knowledgeable and competent. Sometimes agents and consultants tell landlords that they need to employ a consultant to conduct an annual check or even to have sampling undertaken. HSE guidance indicates that normally this will not be necessary. However, if a block of flats are involved, unless each flat has its own self-contained hot and cold water system, a more comprehensive risk assessment may be needed.

What happens if the landlord does not carry out his/her obligations?

The consequences can be serious. Landlords are legally required to manage properties so as not to expose tenants, residents and visitors to risk. Heavy fines or even imprisonment can be imposed especially if someone were to unfortunately die. Landlords can be prosecuted even if there is an exposure to risk without anyone actually becoming ill.

Original Source:http://www.rla.org.uk/landlord/guides/legionnaires_disease.shtml?zoom_highlight=legionella

For more information on this and for all our services please call on 01329 287 777 or fill out the form below;

LEGIONELLA – MANAGING THE RISK

As an employer, or person in control of premises, you must appoint someone competent to help you meet your health and safety duties and to take responsibility for controlling any identified risk from exposure to legionella bacteria. A competent person, often known as the responsible person, is someone with sufficient authority, competence, necessary skills, knowledge of the system, and experience. The appointed responsible person could be one, or a combination of:

·         yourself

·         one or more workers

·         someone from outside your business

If there are several people responsible for managing risks, e.g. because of shift-work patterns, you must make sure that everyone knows what they are responsible for and how they fit into the overall risk management of the system.

If you decide to employ contractors to carry out water treatment or other work, it is still the responsibility of the competent person to ensure that the treatment is carried out to the required standards. Remember, before you employ a contractor, you should be satisfied that they can do the work you want to the standard that you require. There are a number of external schemes to help you with this, for example, A Code of Conduct for service providers  . The British Standards Institute have published a standard for legionella risk assessment  .

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/what-you-must-do.htm

Based on OHSAS 18001 and BS 8800 which are the recognised UK models for Health & Safety Management Systems, Envirochem is able to provide Health & Safety Assessment Services as part of a range of occupational health and safety support services to cover all health and Safety issues.

 

For Legionnaires testing or risk assessments please fill out the form below or call on 01329 287 777