A recent report from the United States’ Centre of Communicable Disease (CDC) published in April 2018 highlighted the problem of cryptosporidium as the pathogen responsible for most outbreaks of infectious disease originating from treated recreational waters, including swimming pools, spa pools and water play-parks. 

 Image Credit: CDC 

Risk assessments are the ‘cornerstone’ of health and safety. As a reminder to us all, the HSE state ‘It is a legal requirement for every employer and self-employed person to make an assessment of the health and safety risks arising out of their work. The purpose of the assessment is to identify what needs to be done to control health and safety risks. Regulation 3 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.’

 The appointed ‘Responsible Person [Water]’ [RP[W]] is typically the Head of Estates, although this will vary depending on your organisations policy. The RP [W] has many management and possibly operational responsibilities and duties for their organisation, such as minimising water safety risks [i.e Legionella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, scald] associated with their buildings [whether this is a single portacabin or a large, complex and multi-faceted facility].

Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust was recently fined a hefty £300,000 and ordered to pay an additional £37,451.78 in costs after pleading guilty to a breach of Health and Safety Law. An HSE Inspector speaking after the hearing said “RUH had measures in place to prevent and control the risk to its patients from exposure to legionella from its water systems, but these were ineffective due to the Trust not having accurate knowledge of the layout of those water systems.” 

In this blog we discuss the ‘Legionella risk assessment’ and whether it is suitable to comply with regulations.

In the blog this week we suggest five ways that Estates Managers should be prepared for managing water safely…

What is a little used outlet?

Any outlet that is used infrequently or that may be subject to intermittent use is classed as a little used outlet. The definition of “infrequent use” may vary between applications and will depend not only on frequency and duration of use, but also other risk factors, such as water temperature and the vulnerability of the population.

It is all well and good commissioning an external service provider to complete your risk assessments, but have you ever considered those persons, the ‘risk assessors’, who will be looking at your properties and water systems?

The objective of this blog is help those with responsibility to commission risk assessments to think not just about ‘getting the risk assessments in place’ but to consider the ability of the risk assessor.

Image credit: BBC news http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42808302  

Recent news articles such as this one in the Guardian newspaper have highlighted an initiative driven by industry body Water UK and campaigners Refill to make free drinking water refill stations widely available to the public in order to reduce plastic waste:

If you're a building owner or premises manager, according to UK legislation you're responsible for managing risks within your buildings - including water systems. 

HSE have removed the two year frequency for risk assessments, they now suggest a set of criteria against which risk assessments can be reviewed.