Examples of Good and Bad Legionella Risk Assessments

A good water risk assessment should meet the following criteria.

• It should be fully site specific and should not include reference to risks not present on your site.
• It should provide a full Legionella assessment of the entire water system and not just outlets, main tanks and water heaters.
• It should provide an accurate schematic drawing of the water system to include all pipe work and deadlegs etc.
• It should provide a full assessment of the current Legionella awareness and management structure within the organisation and provide details of any additional training or management requirements.
• It should provide specific recommendations regarding any remedial actions required to the water system.
• It should provide a full Legionella management regime specific to your site with specific asset requirements, such as "Monthly temperature monitoring of Level 1, Office Toilet Sink Hot and Cold Taps".
• It should determine usage of the premises and also usage of the water system in detail to highlight any low use, and as such high risk, areas.
• It should provide both a written report and a review meeting with the assessor to ensure an understanding of the findings.
• It will be carried out by a person of relevant experience and training, who should as a minimum hold a City and Guilds in Legionella Risk Assessment.

By following these criteria you will obtain a high quality risk assessment that will highlight the true Legionella risks associated with your systems and provide you with the knowledge to manage those risks.

Poor Quality Risk Assessments

Many companies will offer Legionella risk assessments but will not follow the above criteria and are interested in speed and turnover. The risk assessment will not provide you with enough detail or management information to enable you to effectively control the risk and as such will leave you exposed.

Poor quality Legionella risk assessments tend to have the following traits.

• They are generic template driven assessments with irrelevant information relating to equipment you do not have
• They do not assess the management and knowledge within the company and as such do not recommend any additional training requirements
• They do not examine the entire water system, concentrating only on the outlets and main tanks etc
• They are often incomplete and miss large areas of the water system
• Schematic diagrams, if even provided, are basic and rely on assumption. They do not highlight any deadlegs or excessively long pipe runs
• They give generic recommendations and do not provide detailed information of the assets leading to confusion and uncertainty
• They are often completed very quickly with minimal time on site
• They do not assess the usage of premises and outlets/water system, leading to high risk low use areas being ignored
• They may be carried out by unskilled staff working from basic templates
• There is no review meeting to discuss recommendations and ensure understanding of any issues
• They often cost more per hour than a high quality detailed assessment

These types of risk assessment will not provide you with the necessary cover and are false economy, often costing more per hour than a quality assessment.