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TheLegislativeBackground
Legionella
, isanorganismwhichexists in lownumbers inmanynatural
watersystems.From thisenvironment itpresents littleornorisk. However,
whenitentersmanmadewatersystems, inpublicandcommercialbuildings,
factories and production plants, itmay find the opportunity to grow and
develop intonumberswhere it canpresent a significant risk tohealth.
In theUnitedkingdom,HealthandSafety ispolicedby theHealthand
SafetyExecutive (HSE). TheHSE is thenational independentwatchdog for
work-related health, safety and illness. It is an independent regulator and
acts in the public interest to reducework related death and serious injury
acrossworkplaces inGreat Britain.
In theUK, with regard to
Legionella
, there is no shortage of guidance
and legislative documents. In 1987, the first guidance note, called EH48,
was published by the HSE. This Guidance Note was published after a
publicenquiry intoanoutbreakofLegionnaires’Diseasewhichoccurredat
StaffordGeneralHospital in1983.Thatoutbreakresulted in thedeathsof33
people. TheGuidancenotewas followed in1991byanenhanced legislative
document calledHSG70 along with anApproved Code of Practice – the
ACOP.These documents were an attempt to get building and production
plant owners and operators, tomanage their water systems to a standard
whichwas designed to reduce the risk posed by the
Legionella
organism.
The documents were “legislative” in that they could be used in a court of
law toassist inobtainingprosecutionsasa resultof increasing levelsof risk
createdbyoperatingwatersystemsoutsideof therecommendedguidelines.
In 1991, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers also
publishedtheirownguidanceandbestpracticedocumententitled“Minimizing
the Risk of Legionnaires’ Disease. “ This document was updated in 2013.
