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Aquastat Environmental Services limited
CONTROL ASSOCIATION
Who Should Carry Out the Legionella Risk Assessment?
The Assessment should be carried out by a suitably qualified competent person. Environmental Services can carry out this essential work should be accredited with a relevant recognised organisation such as the Legionella Control Association and have long standing experience in this area of work, both advisory and practical.
- Competent Persons who are members of the Legionella Control Association are able to produce written schemes to the required standard.
- A risk assessment for the services will be necessary to identify potential problems in the system (for example, excess storage capacity, temperature distribution problems, low water usage, inappropriate materials etc).
A legionella risk assessment is an assessment of the water systems within any publically accessible building. It will cover the building’s or facilities water systems to include all hot and cold water services (e.g. taps and showers), cold water storage tanks, dental water lines, all hot water providers and any machinery or working process that could be susceptible to colonisation of the legionella bacteria
The Purpose of a Risk Assessment
A competent assessment should enable a valid decision to be made regarding any risk to health, i.e. whether the potential for harm to health from exposure is reasonably foreseeable, unless adequate precautionary measures are taken and what measures for prevention, or adequate controls are in place to minimise the risk of exposure to the bacteria. In particular, any means by which exposure can be prevented or minimised by identifying the potential for the formation of contaminated droplets, the condition of the water and its running temperature, the water turnover rate and the likely hood of anyone that may come into contact with water droplets. It will identify opportunities in the system that could provide or support the proliferation of Legionella bacteria and their discharge in the form of aerosols.
Yes - Most organisations in the UK need to provide a Legionella Risk Assessment & written scheme of works for controlling and identifying any risks in accordance with the Health & Safety Executives Approved Code of Practice and Guidance document (Known as ACOP L8); “Legionnaires’ Disease; the Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems”. An assessment is required if your system is fed from cold water storage tanks or from mains fed pipework.
The Health & Safety Executives ACOP L8 is further supported by the Department of Health’s guidance documents below:
- Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: Decontamination in Primary Care Dental Practices (HTM01-05)
- Health Technical Memorandum 04-01: The control of Legionella, hygiene, “safe” hot water, cold water and drinking water systems (HTM04-01)
Compliance with the above documents will satisfy the requirements of the HSE’s ACOP L8