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tanks etc, and then the completionof appropriate remedial actions as indicated
by the findings of the monitoring and control regime.
Risk assessment is regarded as the secondmost common cause of failings
resulting in the occurrence of outbreaks. This gives an indication of the
importance of getting a quality risk assessment completed on a water system
in a building or factory. Without the risk assessment being a complete audit
and review of the way in which water is processed and used in a premises, and
of then assessing the risk associated with these processes, then the ongoing
control scheme is likely to be flawed.
There can be a variation in the quality of risk assessments delivered by
providers. In an effort to improve the overall quality of risk assessments in
the UK a British Standard, BS 8580:2010, Water quality – Risk assessments
for
Legionella
control – Code of practice was published in 2010. This
document outlines the minimum expectations a client should have for a risk
assessment. It should be remembered that in the UK, the end user client has
the responsibility of ensuring that the supplier that is chosen is competent to
complete the risk assessment task.
The third largest sector of “failing” which causes outbreaks is “Training
and Competence”. Time and again, site management staff fail to recognise
the importance of ensuring that the relevant employees are trained, and that
they have an awareness and an understanding of what is expected of them
in the operation of the water systems. A crucial part of training is helping
users understand the meaning of the findings and results of the monitoring
and control scheme, and of the implications of out of specification results.
Additionally, the training should cover what to do to remediate situations
where the risk posed by the
Legionella
organism may have increased.
