Legionella Risk Assessment

What is Legionella Risk Assessment?

Legionella Risk Assessment is a tool used to identify risk factors in a facility and determine interventions for controlling risks of Legionnaires’ disease, a pneumonia-like illness caused by the waterborne pathogen, Legionella. Assessing and mitigating Legionella-related risks is a legal requirement for employers, especially for hotel operators, hospital administrators, and landlords.

Why use Legionella Risk Assessment Templates?

Property managers or competent individuals responsible for the control of Legionella bacteria should ensure a safe and disease-free workplace or residential accommodation for occupants. Legionella risk assessment templates aim to guide assessors perform thorough inspections of water systems and prevent the growth of Legionella bacteria which can cause serious harm or fatality from Legionnaires’ disease.

This article features:

1) what makes a facility more exposed to legionnaires’ disease and how to control risks associated with legionella in building water systems;

2) temperature sensors for 24/7 remote monitoring and real-time alerts to the right people when something goes wrong; and

3) free legionella risk assessment templates you can request from us, customize, and use.

Top 3 Legionella-related Risk Factors and How to Control Them

In Michigan, Flint’s water crisis spawned one of the largest outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease in U.S. history. Here are the most common factors that make a facility more susceptible to Legionella bacteria and how property managers can effectively control them:

1. Redundant Piping or Dead Legs

2. Dead legs are improperly removed or rarely used outlet pipes without regular water flow, and such redundancy in pipeline systems lead to stagnant water, a primary breeding ground for Legionella. For example, if a sink has been removed and the piping that once lead to it has been capped off, this creates an area for water to stagnate. Easily manage redundant pipework by surveying the hot and cold water system and updating its full schematic diagram, including the water flow, water treatment program, and a written scheme for controlling Legionella.

3. Infected Cold Water Storage Tanks

4. Another condition for legionella to rapidly multiply is the lack of residual disinfectants like chlorine in cold water storage tanks. Routine cleaning and disinfection of cooling towers and the hot and cold water system should take place at least once in every six months. The procedure should cover the initial concentration of oxidizing biocide in use for the pre- and post-cleaning disinfection stages, contact time for each stage, and methods for carrying out the cleaning, including the removal of packing.

5. Lukewarm Water Temperature

6. The temperature of hot and cold tap water should remain 50 degrees Celsius (122°F) or above and 20 degrees Celsius (68°F) or below, respectively, while the water temperature inside the boiler should be kept at or above 60 degrees Celsius (140°F). Legionella exponentially grows in warm water temperatures, ranging from 25-42 degrees Celsius (77°-108°F). Proactively guard the premises against Legionnaires’ disease by installing temperature sensors.

Automate Temperature Readings and Gain Real-time Alerts

Property managers can effectively prevent Legionellosis in their premises by regularly maintaining the condition, cleanliness, and correct temperature of hot and cold water systems. Turn your paper forms into digitized templates and record significant data with the convenience of using our application, the world’s most powerful inspection mobile app.

• Capture photo evidence of hazards detected such as untidy cooling towers, damaged water storage tanks, and unmaintained water temperatures.

• Auto-save Legionella risk assessment data and secure unlimited reports in our application's cloud-based storage anytime, anywhere.

• 24/7 remote monitoring and triggered alerts to the right people when the temperature goes out of a safe range with Sensors provided by us.

Legionella Risk Assessment Templates

Legionella Risk Assessment Template

This Legionella Risk Assessment Template can be used by the Legionella-responsible person to assess the premises of a property. This template has been built according to the Residential Landlords Association (RLA) Legionnaires Disease Risk Assessment & Guidelines. Use this template to record cold and hot water temperatures, check if maintained properly, and evaluate if air conditioning and water systems are clean and disinfected. Maximize our application’s features by:

• Capturing photos of risks present in the workplace.

• Annotate photos to emphasize underlying factors and report risks to safety managers and officials.

• Use Sensors provided by us for automatic temperature readings.

• Generate reports while on-site for better reporting process.

• Regularly review risk assessment data gathered over time and easily take action when anything changes in your system.

• Ask us for the Template

• Ask us for the Sample Report

Legionella Risk Assessment for Landlords

This Legionella Risk Assessment Template has been designed to make it easier for landlords to check the working condition and record the temperature of water heating and storage equipment such as the boiler, hot water cylinder, and cold water storage tank. Use this template to easily assess if occupants or tenants were given information about the control of legionella and detail other risks identified. Landlords should perform regular legionella risk assessments to prevent occupants from acquiring Legionnaires’ disease in contaminated water.

• Ask us for the Template

Legionnaires Risk Assessment Template

This legionnaires risk assessment template is according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems for auditing cooling towers. Use this template to efficiently inspect an unlimited number of cooling towers and evaluate a site’s water treatment program and written scheme for controlling the risk from exposure to legionella bacteria. The landlord or any competent legionella-responsible person can easily customize this template according to the design and construction, operation and maintenance, monitoring, and cleaning and disinfection of their cooling tower systems.

• Ask us for the Template

Legionella Risk Assessment Form

This legionella risk assessment form is based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Legionella Environmental Assessment Form used to gain a thorough understanding of a facility’s water systems and assist facility management with minimizing the risk of legionellosis. This smart form automatically shows you required questions according to previous answers such as “Does occupancy vary throughout the year?” and if YES is answered, the next question would be for selecting the season(s) with the lowest occupancy.

• Ask us for the Template

Health and Safety Risk Assessment Template

A health and safety risk assessment template is used to help businesses identify on site hazards before things go wrong. Site managers and safety officers can use this template to identify potential and existing hazards, evaluate each hazard’s risk level, and provide preventive control measures. Monitor and review planned control measures and advise if further measures are required. Lastly, provide overall recommendations to avoid and manage risk hazards. Capture photos of commonly ignored hazards and assign actions to notify your managers of immediate risks.