251
However, 188 improvement notices were issued to around 16% of the sites
visited indicating that there were significant causes for concern about how the
Guidance and ACOP was being implemented and followed. The majority of
these improvement notices were issued as a result of the sites showing a lack of
effective implementation of control measures. Improvement notices identify
issues of serious concern, and give the cooling tower operator a designated
period of time to rectify the situation.
Additionally, 5 prohibition notices were served to sites. Three of these
were for a lack of safe access to the cooling plant and 2 were for inadequate
control. A prohibition notice is a more serious level of enforcement and
would usually lead to a cooling tower being closed down until the required
actions or improvements were completed.
As well as the proactive site visits detailed above, the HSE have engaged
in a range of other activities to engage with business and trade organisations.
Meetings were held with several stakeholders prior to the commencement
of the site visit programme including the
Legionella
Control Association, the
Chemicals and DownstreamOil Industries Forum and Energy UK. The HSE
confirmed that they would continue to engage with stakeholders.
In addition to the above, the HSE released a Safety Notice in July 2012,
which was targeted at operators of evaporative cooling plant, reminding
them of their duties to manage risks effectively, and providing simple advice
on how this can be achieved. This was followed in September 2012, by the
issue of a second safety notice targeted at operators of other
Legionella
risk
systems, such as hot and cold water services in buildings, and spa pools.
