Legionella – Understanding your legal obligations
Health and safety law
Under the health and safety at work act sections 2, 3, 4, and 6 duties extend to the risks from legionella bacteria that may arise from the workplace or work place activities. COSHH and the MHSWR provide certain requirements and procedures for controlling health and safety at work. COSHH regulations 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 detail the requirement of suitable risk assessments for the control of substances hazardous to health in the workplace.
This includes Legionella bacteria.
In addition to the requirement of a suitable legionella risk assessment, the regulations also state that employers must have access to competent advice or help to implement health and safety law. Help is usually required to design, establish and implement suitable and effective site specific control schemes and methods or procedures to be followed by employees should a significant or imminent danger arise at work .
This includes a legionella outbreak!
The Law regards a Legionella Outbreak as a significant or imminent danger at work!
The legal requirement to deal with any significant or imminent dangers at work extend to any work place premise where two or more people work in the same building, whether they are self employed or employed by a company. This is for reasons of co-ordination and co-operation by the occupants! Just like a fire risk assessment and fire safety procedures, you should also have a legionella risk assessment which includes, and details a specific course of action should a legionella outbreak occur in your building.
What does the responsible person need to do?
As an employer or a person in control of premises (e.g. a landlord or managing agent etc), you must consider the risks from Legionella that may affect your staff or members of the public and take suitable precautions to prevent or control these risks.
IN BASIC TERMS THE LAW SAYS YOU MUST:
- Identify and assess sources of risk from legionella bacteria in the work place by conducting a legionella risk assessment.
- Prepare a legionella control scheme (or course of action) for preventing or controlling the risk from legionella at work.
- Implement and manage the control scheme and appoint a person to be managerially responsible, referred to as the 'responsible person'.
- Keep adequate records and check that what has been done is effective.
- If appropriate you must also notify the local authority that you have a cooling tower(s) on site.