In January 2019, BSI Standards Limited released the new, updated ‘BS 8580-1:2019 Water Quality – Risk Assessments for Legionella Control – Code of Practice’. This blog is designed to help the duty holder, employer, responsible person or purchaser of risk assessments understand what the standard is and what features your risk assessment should include, it is neither a critique nor a summary of its content.

We are pleased to announce that we have just added a new page to our website with the answers to the questions we get asked the most from our clients and during our training courses. This page
will help you understand, in more depth, how to better manage water hygiene and waterborne pathogens.

If we’re to control the ‘chain of infection’ we must first understand what it entails so that we can identify what is within our control.  In doing so, this may enable us to devise and implement an effective ‘preventative management strategy’ in order to mitigate the risk of infection and subsequent disease.

Spa pools, hot tubs, whirlpool baths and other similar spa-systems have found steadily increasing popularity over many years now in the UK and are now priced so that they are an achievable aspirational product for the home, having long been available in hotels, leisure centres etc.  So how can they be managed safely?

There are some interesting occurrences in this picture.  The focus being the flow off a calorifier, but what is the grey pipe all about?  If you've an idea please use the comment box below to post your answers and we will get back to you shortly.

Back in 2018 ITV reported on the closure of the  Grade II listed Ramada Hall Hotel after Legionella bacteria was found in water samples.

Another article was published in 2017 by the BBC about a fatal Legionella outbreak at the Feathers Hotel* in Ludlow where a 60-year-old hotel guest had died after contracting Legionnaires' disease. Legionella was found again at the same hotel in 2018.

The 9th February 2019 marks 10 years of operations for the Water Hygiene Centre!  

Having reached this significant milestone, we’d like to say ‘Thank You’ to our clients for their belief and continued commitment in the team here at the Water Hygiene Centre.

Conventional wisdom has it that most cases of Legionnaires’ disease associated with water systems in the built-environment could have been prevented and therefore should not have occurred. The law underpins this by placing statutory obligations of duty holders, employers and others in control of premises that pose a Legionellosis risk to users. 

To understand the actions that should be taken when a positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa [P. aeruginosa] test results is received, it is prudent to first understand more about this opportunistic pathogen and the associated guidance. This knowledge will help to shape the actions…

Case Study:  Training Needs - The Success That Comes With Getting It Right! 

When it comes to water risk management, it is vital to ensure those appointed to monitor and assess the safety are sufficiently trained and can effectively identify hazards such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa contamination. With professional and expert training comes success in maintaining the water safety in your organisation, as we have seen in Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.