The UK’s Department of Health document HTM 04-01 – safe water in healthcare premises (part B), sets of the need for the formation of a team of experts referred to as the Water Safety Group or WSG. In the NHS and other healthcare environments the Water Safety Group describes a team of specialists that collectively has the responsibility for creating, implementing, and maintaining a Water Safety
The Department of Health’s HTM 00 may be unknown to some of those working in the healthcare sector, and yet it is an important element to be aware of as it deals with issues associated with building engineering in hospitals and other healthcare premises.
The UK’s Health and Safety Executive publishes plenty of useful information concerning legionella record keeping involving the monitoring and maintenance of water systems such as hot tubs, cooling towers, and hot and cold water distribution systems within premises of many kinds. Understanding how legionella bacteria spreads, how this can be prevented (or at least controlled), and recording what co
In the NHS a hospital Water Safety Plan, or WSP is designed to help staff focus on and reduce the risks that are often found in association with water systems, specifically those used in hospitals and similar healthcare environments.
This is the second part of a two-part article written to outline the UK’s legionella regulations and the responsibilities placed on the legionella duty holder, usually the employer or someone in control of premises. This article is intended to support and guide you through the assessment and management of risks associated with Legionella bacteria in the workplace. In the first part, we focused o
Our legionella risk assessment checklist is designed to help the responsible person audit the arrangements in place to control legionella in the water systems in their premises. The audit provides a very useful check on the responsible persons knowledge of the systems under their control. Additionally it also checks the knowledge of those who play a role in controlling the risks from the system, t
In the UK if you are a business owner, or you manage premises for someone else, you are required by law to assess that business or premises to see whether there is a risk of legionella contamination in your water systems… and your starting point for this would be a Legionnaires risk assessment. However, you might be surprised to learn that some businesses and industries have a greater risk than
Legionella bacteria exists naturally in many water sources. However, numbers are small in nature, and the biggest danger to humans tends to come from hot and cold water systems, cooling towers and other water systems that are inadequately maintained or managed. Controlling legionella in hot and cold water, cooling towers and other water systems is essential if you are to ensure the safety of peopl
This is part one of a two-part article written to guide legionella duty holders (usually employers or people in control of premises) of their responsibilities in assessing and managing the risks connected with the presence of Legionella bacteria in man-made water systems. The bacteria can cause several illnesses in humans, and these are all referred to collectively as legionellosis. Legionnaires�
Managing legionella in water systems and the risks posed by Legionnaires’ disease is a vital consideration when conducting water safety risk assessments in any environment. Fortunately, the UK’s Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provides ample information and supportive advice concerning this type of risk management. But we can also learn something from the USA’s ASHRAE 188-2015 – a volunt