Legionella are a bacteria commonly found in natural water.  There are many variations of the strain, however the most significant threat comes from serogroup 1  with a species name of Legionella Pnuemophila.

What is Legionnaires Disease?

Legionnaires Disease is the collective name for a disease caused by bacteria of the Legionella genus.  It was named after an outbreak in Philadelphia (1976) at an American Legion conference where there were 182 cases and 34 deaths.  The disease is not contagious and does not respond to penicillin.  It can incubate within your body for between 2-10 days.  The most common symptoms are; high fever, muscle and joint pain, headache, dry cough, pneumonia or flu like feelings.  

Should you have concerns that you have contracted Legionnaires Disease (LD) ensure you visit a doctor or hospital immediately, it is curable, however leaving/ignoring the symptoms of Legionella can cause irrevocable damage to your lungs and in a worst case scenario kill.

How many cases of Legionnaires Disease are reported in the UK each year?

There are approximately 200-250 cases reported each year however, many of these cases are contracted outside of the UK.  It is worth noting that due to the symptoms often appearing as the more common pneumonia, it is believed that under reporting of the disease often occurs.

Who is most at risk of catching Legionnaires Disease?

What Legislation is relevant to Legionella?

There are many documents that all have a relevance to legionella control throughout the UK some are statutory law whilst others are guidance documents.  Please see the list below for some of the more common examples:

Do I need a Legionella Risk Assessment?

A legionella risk assessment should be completed for any site where a "reasonably foreseeable risk of exposure to legionella bacteria exists" (ACOP L8 Page 12).  This includes systems:

When should a Legionella Risk Assessment be completed/reviewed?

The HSE guidance document ACOP L8 states that your assessment should be reviewed "regularly (at least every two years) and, whenever there is reason to suspect that it is no longer valid. An indication of when to review the assessment and what needs to be reviewed should be recorded. This may result from, for example: 

Typically as industry standard (also due to the requirements of the LCA (Legionella Control Association)) companies recommend an annual review.  The purpose of this review is to audit both the client's and the companies document's to ensure both are compliant.  These review meetings are also used to confirm everything to the client face-to-face.

What do you look for when carrying out a Legionella Risk Assessment?

A Legionella Risk Assessor looks for any part of a site which includes water.  The main criteria for a legionella risk are:

Trouble signs often show in cold water storage vessels where un-balanced or infrequently used systems can cause stagnation.

Can I carry out my own risk assessment and monitoring requirements?

Yes you can, however there is a need for competence, the ACOP L8 states Point 45 Page 16 (as with most health and safety documentation) 

"Those who are appointed to carry out the control measures and strategies should be suitably informed, instructed and trained and their suitability assessed. They should be properly trained to a standard which ensures that tasks are carried out in a safe, technically competent manner. Regular refresher training should be given and records of all initial and refresher training need to be maintained. Although training is an essential element of competence, it is not the only factor - it should be viewed as is a product of sufficient training, experience, knowledge and other personal qualities which are needed to undertake a job safely. Competence is dependent on the needs of the situation and the nature of the risks involved."

PB Assessment recommend that an assessment is carried out by a Legionella Control Association (LCA) member such as ourselves and share monitoring works via a contract.  Please note that although work can be 'contracted out' legal responsibility cannot.

Further information will be added gradually over the next few months.

My site is closed or running at reduced occupancy, what should I have in place?

Where your site is still partially or fully occupied, usual control programs should continue to be implemented.  If you intend to or have closed the site/some buildings on your site but wish to re-open as soon as possible without delay from a re-commissioning program, then the following steps should be taken:

• Maintain your normal temperature control regime.
• Flush gently (to reduce aerosols) all hot and cold outlets.
• Ensure drinking water storage tanks remain at 0.2-1.0 ppm of free chlorine.
• Adjust your monitoring regime to be able to verify these free chlorine levels.
• Ensure you keep all documentation for inspection including: - reviewed risk assessments.

How do I re-open after Covid-19?

Where your site has been close down fully or have water systems shut down, a re-commissioning program must be considered.  On a very simple water system this re-commissioning program could be flushing all outlets thoroughly for 5 minutes.  However, on more complex water systems e.g. hotels, factories, large offices, recommissioning will require a more technical program with system wide chemical disinfection & legionella sampling.