Catchy Headline
LEGIONELLA CONTROL
What is Legionarires' Disease?
Legionarires' disease is a type of pneumonia. The illness occurs more frequently in men than women. It usually affects middle-aged or elderly people and also affects smokers or people with other chest problems.
How do people get it?
The germ which causes Legionarires' disease is a bacterium called Legionella pneumophila. People catch legionnaires disease by inhaling small droplets of water suspended in the air, which contain the Legionella bacterium.
Where does it come from?
As Legionella bacteria are commonly encountered in environmental sources they may eventually colonize manufactured water systems and be found in cooling tower water systems, hot and cold water systems and other plants which use or store water.
What measures are there to control legionnaires' disease?
To prevent the occurrence of legionnaires' disease, buildings which operate these systems must comply with regulations requiring them to manage, maintain and treat them properly. Amongst other things, this means that the water must be treated and the system must be monitored and cleaned regularly.
Legionella Risk Assessment & Consultancy Services to ACOP L8
The first requirement of HSE ACOP L8 is to carry out a suitable and sufficient Risk Assessment to identify all systems that could present a risk of exposure to Legionella bacteria.
These include:
- - Hot & Cold Water Services
- - Spa Pools
- - Any system where Legionella may grow and be released in an aerosol
- -Legionella Risk Assessments to ACOP L8
- -Tank Inspection and Water Sampling
- -Temperature Monitoring
- -Water & Air Quality Monitoring
Each system must have a separate Risk Assessment, which must be carried out by qualified ed and trained consultants who are competent to do so.
Risk = Hazard x Likelihood
The hazards associated with Legionella bacteria can be fatal but the likelihood can be minimized by effective monitoring of control program and engineering solutions.
This includes:
ACCREDITATION
Registered Company
ISO International Standards provide practical tools for tackling many of today's global challenges. Learn how International Standards work in the real world in sectors such as Health, Water, Food, Climate change and many more...
SafePQQ Accreditation
SafePQQ is an extension of the SafeContractor health and safety contractor management system, that provides organisations with greater visibility of their supply chain compliance. It is an online product built to include the common question sets defined within PAS91, a standardised pre-qualification questionnaire.
Legionella Control
The Legionella control Association (LCA) is a voluntary organisation whose membership comprises providers of services and products concerned with the control of legionella bacteria in water systems.
Constructionline
Constructionline - which is the UK's largest register of pre-qualified contractors and consultants - has begun a major upgrade to its system to ensure it follows the principles of the new BSI Public Available Specification (PAS91) for its pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ).
Safecontractor
Safecontractor is the fastest growing health and safety accreditation scheme in the UK, with more than 160 major clients and almost 18,000 contractor members. Registered members with the safecontractor scheme include clients and contractors from a wide range of professional disciplines working within a number of industry sectors.