A Legionella risk assessment is a legal requirement in the UK, but companies have a lot of latitude when it comes to how they actually go about performing one.
Beyond the requirement that the assessment be carried out by a ‘competent person’ with ‘sufficient authority’, the rules and regulations leave the nitty-gritty of performing one up to the business as to how they meet their responsibilities when it comes to water safety.
And like all aspects of risk management, there are effective and less effective ways of assessing and managing Legionella risk.
Below, we first take a look at what the law has to say about the duty of care businesses owe to their employees, visitors, and anyone else using their water supply.
We then go on to share some tried-and-tested methods of ensuring your Legionella risk assessment doesn’t simply go through the motions, but hits the mark and has you covered from a legal perspective.
The Law
All UK-based businesses must perform a Legionella risk assessment – no ifs, buts or maybes.
Three pieces of statutory legislation have something to say here:
- Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA).
- Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002
- Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (MHSWR).
The legislation above is heavy going, but the HSE has helpfully put together a concise best practice code – Approved Code of Practice (ACoP) L8: “Legionnaires’ Disease: The Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems, that will help you play by the rules.
ACoP suggests that all Legionella risk regimes stick to the following guidelines:
- The person carrying out the assessment is competent to do so.
- The risk assessor produces a written control scheme (system plans, assigned responsibilities, and water management protocols and procedures).
- The company subsequently draws up a plan for the implementation, monitoring, and maintenance of control measures (temperature controls, flushing, cleaning, and disinfection).r
- The company has a record of its risk assessments, control plans, maintenance, testing, and training.
Outside Expert
A ‘competent person’ is a broad term, but for most businesses, this will often mean an outside water safety expert who has the tools and testing kit to perform a proper assessment of the water system.
If you opt to bring in outside help when conducting a Legionella risk assessment, it’s recommended that you look for agencies that possess industry-standard qualifications and accreditation.
This means you can rest assured that the specialists you bring in to carry out the work have the technical knowledge, training, and up-to-date understanding of relevant rules, regulations and industry standards, especially ACoP L8, BS 8580-1:2019, and COSHH.
On-Going Process
A risk assessment is just one – albeit important – part of dealing with Legionella risk.
The management of risk around waterborne bacteria like Legionella is an ongoing process and doesn’t stop once the risk assessment has been completed.
As such, you must also ensure they adopt procedures and protocols that will allow you to keep on top of Legionella risk.
This will typically involve a maintenance professional regularly checking water temperatures (hot and cold), flushing infrequently used toilets and ensuring low-flow and dead-legs are voided so they don’t encourage the buildup of the bacteria that cause Legionnaire’s disease.