What is Legionnaires’ disease?

Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia and everyone is susceptible to infection. However, some people are at higher risk, including:

• people over 45 years of age
• smokers and heavy drinkers
• people suffering from chronic respiratory or kidney disease
• anyone with an impaired immune system

What will a Legionella Risk Assessment do?

The risk assessment will enable the client to arrive at a valid decision concerning the actions required to limit the risk or potential for harm to the health of the occupants of a premises.

Do all work places need a Legionella Risk Assessment?

In short, yes! If you have water on site that people could be exposed to, then you must assess and manage the risk of Legionella bacteria.  The Approved Code of Practice L8, applies to “any undertaking involving a work activity and to premises controlled in connection with a trade, business or other undertaking where water is used or stored and where there is a means of creating and transmitting water droplets which may be inhaled, thereby causing a reasonably foreseeable risk of exposure to legionella bacteria.”

A reasonably foreseeable risk of exposure to legionella bacteria exists in:

(a) water systems incorporating a cooling tower;

(b) water systems incorporating an evaporative condenser;

(c) hot and cold water systems; and

(d) other plant and systems containing water which is likely to exceed 20°C and which may release a spray or aerosol (ie a cloud of droplets and/or droplet nuclei) during operation or when being maintained.

How often should the Legionella Risk Assessment be updated?

The assessment should be reviewed regularly (at least every two years) or when there is reason to suspect the observations are no longer valid.  This may be as a result of one of the below occurrences;

• Changes to the water system or its use
• Changes to the use of the building where the water system is installed
• New information is available relating to the risks or control measures
• Regular inspections indicate that the control measures in place are no longer effective
• Legionnaires’ disease is identified within the system

Can you carry out the Risk Assessment yourself?

Any person deemed to be ‘competent’ can carry out the assessment.  Like with your car service, this can be carried out by yourself, however most people would not be comfortable that they have the knowledge or expertise to confidently carry this out.

Does the Risk Assessment only cover Legionella?

The assessment will cover many elements, of which Legionella is just one of.  All aspects of water quality, hygiene and compliance will be analysed, in addition, to identifying any scalding issues and plant associated with air conditioning.  For more information on the specific issues within the assessment please see the Legionella Risk Assessment section on this website.

What happens after the assessment is carried out?

At the end of the assessment, the lead assessor will outline the findings of the assessment with the nominated person.  The report will then be compiled and sent off to site along with a schematic drawing of the water system and a legionella maintenance log book.  Included within the report will be a maintenance programme, detailing all the work required to ensure the site stays compliant.  In addition, the lead assessor will contact the site’s nominated person once the report has been sent, in order to go through the findings and answer any queries they have.