Legionella and the associated risks are often forgotten when looking at Health and Safety in an office environment – not many offices have swimming pools or hot tubs for staff recreation and relaxation! Instead, identify more commonly found risk systems such as:

• Water heating and cooling systems
• Cold-water storage tanks
• Rarely used taps
• Showers
• Humidifiers
• Ornamental water fountains

Once you’ve identified a risk, either you or your competent person will need to carry out an appropriate Legionella risk assessment which will include, but is not limited to,:

• Responsibilities – who is involved in the risk assessment
• System – describe the system you’re assessing
• Evaluate risk – assess who is at risk, and who might be at a higher level of risk *
• Controls – what current controls (if any) there are, and what control measures you can add
• Document – share your report, and records of inspections, checks and monitoring to senior management as needed
• Review –schedule a next review date

*The HSE has identified that Legionnaires’ Disease is known to be a higher risk for the following groups:

• people over 45 years of age
• smokers and heavy drinkers
• people suffering from chronic respiratory or kidney disease
• anyone with an impaired immune system.

It’s a legal requirement for commercial offices to prevent, manage and control legionella by carrying out regular legionella risk assessments, and to regularly monitor water systems. If you’re at a loss on where to begin, Armour have a comprehensive Basic Legionella Management course available via our E-learning platform.

This course explains the background to Legionella, the potential risks associated with water systems and how these can be prevented or controlled. It helps you to understand the risk that Legionella poses and helps  develop the systems and working practices you need to stay ahead. It gives you enough knowledge to get a Legionella control programme off the ground yourself – or make confident, informed choices when commissioning others to take this on for you.

The course takes approximately 75 minutes to complete, is approved by CPD, Gatehouse Awards & IIRSM, and also counts as 3 CPD units. Not convinced that e-learning is for you? Sign up for a free trial module of the course by registering here to check it out.