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Legionella Risk Assessments

Legionnaires disease is a potentially fatal infection with members of the bacterial genus Legionella. The disease is caught by the inhalation of droplets of water from water systems containing the organism at high levels.
As founder members of the Legionella Control Association we understand the requirements of a Legionella risk assessment but believe they should be simple and to the point being easy to understand and act on.

Legionella Risk Assessment Service Provider

Feedwater specialises in providing clear and concise Legionella risk assessments for a wide range of industrial and commercial clients and having assessed the risk we then provide all the services needed to prevent Legionnaires’ Disease and ensure ACoP L8 compliance.

As a founder member of the Legionella Control Association, our level of expertise and fully integrated support services will help you reach full compliance with in the HSE’s ACoP L8, not only can we perform your risk assessment but our in-house teams of water hygiene specialists and our UKAS accredited legionella laboratory will support you all the way from completing remedial work to fulfilling any sampling regime you require.

Please use the tabs below to browse our service and technical questions you have, if you are ready to inquire about a quotation please fill out the assessment request form below.

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Why use the Feedwater Legionella risk assessment service?

Unlike many other ACOP L8 legionella risk assessment providers, we believe that a risk assessment report should be simple and to the point. There is no value in an unnecessarily long and wordy document, so your Feedwater risk assessment report will be comprehensive yet concise, focussing on what you need to know. It can be used as an effective management tool to reduce risk and monitor improvement.

Our risk assessment system complies with the requirements of the recently introduced British Standard BS 8580 Water quality – Guide to risk assessments for Legionella Control.

Our risk assessors are highly experienced and use a unique risk matrix scoring system to help identify those factors which increase risk, so you can see at a glance where you need to prioritise your remedial actions and what you have to do to comply with the regulations.

Why and where are Risk Assessments for Legionella needed?

The ACOP L8 regulations(*) indicate that a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is the first step in Legionnaires’ Disease prevention. The objective is to identify all water systems where legionella bacteria could potentially grow and assess the risk of people being exposed to contaminated aerosols from them. All water systems need to be included in the legionella risk assessment, but particular attention needs to be paid to:

  • Hot & cold water systems
  • Cooling water systems, cooling towers and evaporative condensers
  • Spa pools
  • Spray humidifiers, misters, air washers and wet scrubbers
  • Safety showers, sprinklers, vehicle wash systems
  • Fountains and water features
  • Any other system containing water in which Legionella could grow and be released in aerosol droplets
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Who needs an ACOP L8 Legionella Risk Assessment and can I do it myself?

The ACOP L8 regulations say that if you are an employer, or control premises or water systems in connection with work, then you need to carry out a legionnaires risk assessment of each of your water systems. The assessment must be carried out by trained personnel who are competent to do so. Despite what some people might tell you, you can do it yourself, provided you know what you are doing and, if you are responsible for a number of simple water systems, this may be a cost-effective approach. Feedwater can provide bespoke training and document systems to enable you to do your own risk assessment for legionella and develop you own legionella disease control measures.

Obviously, if your water systems are more complex, we would recommend that you get expert help and Feedwater can carry out a comprehensive risk assessment for legionella on your behalf.

How often do I need to do a Risk Assessment?

The ACOP L8 regulations say that the Legionnaires’ risk assessment should be reviewed regularly and specifically whenever there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid. The guidance used to say that a legionella risk assessment should be reviewed at least every 2 years but now it says the risk assessment should be a living document which must be regularly reviewed to ensure it remains up to date. In practice this still means that, although L8 no longer puts a timeframe to it, the risk assessment should be reviewed at least every 2 years and any time there is a significant change such as if you have added to or modified your water systems, the use of the water system has changed, key personnel have changed or your legionella control measures are no longer working.

For a simple system the risk assessment review may be fairly straight forward, but for more complex systems it is best to carry out a full legionnaires risk assessment from scratch.

What else do I need?

As we said earlier, legionella L8 risk assessments are only the first step in legionnaires disease prevention. In addition, the statutory duty holder also has to:

  • Prepare a scheme for preventing or controlling the risk
  • Implement and manage precautions
  • Keep records of precautions implemented
  • Appoint a person to be managerially responsible

Landlord Legionella Risk Assessments

Often overlooked, it is actually a requirement for landlords to have a legionella risk assessment on their property to ensure risks are highlighted and remedial actions taken to ensure tenants are protected. While this is a requirement, for landlords of single dwellings can perform this assessment themselves so long as they have the right awareness training. One thing landlords do not need to do is perform Legionella water analysis, merely ensure risk is managed.

If you own single dwellings which are let to the public then performing a risk assessment isn’t a difficult task, to teach landlords to perform these assessments themselves Feedwater has put together a package which includes a video course and supporting materials, we also include a Pro-Forma to fill out to perform the assessment. For landlords in charge of larger complexes such as blocks of apartments then an assessment by a trained assessor will be required.

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We have specialist services for landlords, estate agents and building tradesmen.

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Useful Legionella L8 Links

* ACOP L8 – The UK Health and Safety Executive’s document “Legionnaires’ Disease: The Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems – Approved Code of Practice and Guidance (L8)”

NB: We are the only UK water treatment company that have their own in-house UKAS accredited legionella testing laboratory, which means we are uniquely placed to help you.

Are you worried? Is your water system contaminated with Legionella right now? Find out in less than 24 hours using Feedwater qPCR Legionella analysis, our rapid legionella testing service.

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    Unfortunately we cannot perform risk assessments on single domestic properties however for portfolios of multiple properties or nationwide estate agents we can work out a cost effective risk assessment solution.