Legionella bacteria can cause Legionnaires’ disease which is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia.
Outbreaks of the illness occur when Legionella bacteria grow in artificial water systems at a temperature high enough to encourage growth.
With the growing number of water coolers and air conditioning systems in UK business buildings, outbreaks could happen easily if you aren’t prepared.
In this article, we will explain why and how updates in the regulation could potentially impact your business. You may very well need to update your legionella risk strategy.
Legionella Cases 2020 (latest data)
The latest news from Public Health England indicated there were 295 confirmed cases of legionnaires disease in 2020.
Coming out in 2019, the revised water quality standards (BS 8580-1:2019 ) provide newer guidance toward conducting legionella assessments.
These standards concern everyone from risk assessors to those responsible for the safe management of water systems in their building.
You should make sure that whoever is carrying out a legionella assessment on your building is up to date on the latest in best practices. Here’s what you need to know about the new changes:
What The New Changes Mean
The latest legionella regulations combine all the best tried and tested knowledge. Aside from additional information by health and safety guidance (HSG) concerning cooling towers and hot/cold water services.
There is an update to recommended inspection frequency to these systems. Furthermore, the new revision takes into account new guidance in “control of legionella and other infectious agents in spa-pools”, that was published back in 2017.
The latest quality standards effectively combine all the most recent guidance about legionella and the newer rules to help with this. Now you know there are new changes to the codes of practice, you must be wondering what the great importance is.
Firstly, the additional information by health and safety guidance (HSG) concerning cooling towers and hot/cold water services. This states that testing should be done quarterly.
The more that legionella regulations are updated, the greater chance of safety and less possibility of an outbreak.
Why Legionella Is So Serious
Legionella is a potentially fatal infectious disease. Since the first documented case in 1976, there have been 47 worldwide outbreaks with varying fatality rates.
A prevalent cause for these outbreaks is in a lack of monitoring the water cooling systems.
Here are a few examples of the people most vulnerable to the disease:
- People over 45 years of age
- Already have an impaired immune system
- Smokers and heavy drinkers
Just to put this into perspective, according to the office of national statistics, the UK population who were 65 and older in 2016 amounted 18%. While that will have altered slightly in 2023, there is a significant risk to a part of the population.
For any business, for any industry, legionella presents a danger to your staff, employees, visitors and yourself.
That’s why having the right professional carry out a proper risk assessment is business critical. That’s where we come in.
Direct365 Legionella Survey & Assessment
The Health & Safety at Work Act (1974) state that businesses of five or more employees must have a Legionella risk assessment on water systems every two years, or sooner if there are changes to the building.
Certified to current standards, our engineers will tailor an action plan to your business, provide a written review and provide recommendations so you can be safe as possible in preventing legionella outbreaks. Avoid the fines, lost business and potentially life-threatening disease by acting early.
Be it your air conditioners, cooling towers, spa pools or any other water systems you use on your premises, have the peace of mind with our expert service, which provides you with all the free legal paperwork you’d have to shell out elsewhere!
Get a quick quote today.
