An international engineering firm found itself in court last year for failing to properly manage risks associated with Legionella bacteria at two of their UK sites. According to a report on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website, the company had two sites, located in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
In cases where an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease has occurred, it is very often traced back to a facility or location where insufficient work has been done to manage the risks posed by Legionella bacteria. In the UK every business must be sure the risks are identified and managed in accordance with legislation which includes the Health & Safety Executives ACOP L8. As such, there should be
If you are responsible for monitoring, managing and controlling the presence of Legionella at your business or place of work, it is vital to make sure you have the right training, sufficient budget and compliance tools at your disposal. This will ensure the Legionella testing, monitoring and compliance tasks you must perform are as efficient and effective as possible.
Are letting agents getting it wrong regarding landlords’ Legionella responsibilities? It would seem so, according to a report issued on the UK’s Health & Safety Executive website. It would appear that some letting agents and property management consultants assume far more must be done in this sector than is actually required by law.
For landlords and business owners, there is a requirement to assess whether or not any risks are present in relation to Legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease from their water systems. In some cases, the risks may be minimal and no steps may need to be taken to deal with them. However, even if this is the case, a Legionella risk assessment should always be undertaken. Proper records shoul
Testing and regularly monitoring cold water temperatures to ensure the water remains at a temperature of less than 20°C is an important legionella risk management task. Find out how to do it with this short video.
Do you have responsibility for the control of a particular building or facility, either as a manager, an employer, property owner or a landlord? If you do then the UK’s Health & Safety Executive will often refer to you as the duty holder, and you may well have a legal duty to identify and manage any risks that are associated with Legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease at that facility.
The chances are you may not be familiar with pseudomonas. This is a bacterium that falls into the gammaproteobacteria class. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common gram-negative rod-shaped bacterium that is capable of causing disease in humans – particularly those that may potentially occur in hospitals. These are commonly-known as hospital-acquired infections or, more properly, nosocomial infection
In part one of this article about controlling Legionnaires’ disease in water systems, we looked at the importance of Legionella risk assessments, water safety risk management and the prevention and control of risks in relation to Legionnaires’ disease. There are three further areas you must be aware of if you are responsible for a water system of any kind, either as a landlord or an employer.
Legionella is a form of bacteria that is capable of causing Legionnaire’s disease, a rare but potentially fatal lung infection. While employers should be aware of their responsibilities and the actions required to control Legionnaires’ disease, they are not the only people who may need to be concerned with this subject. The control of Legionella and Legionnaires’ disease in the work place fa