It’s essential that you give guidance and training to your staff regarding legionella bacteria in the workplace.
Legionella breeds in all bodies of water and can lead to Legionnaires’ Disease – a potentially fatal form of pneumonia.
Education and training is a requirement in law for any organisation with five or more employees and customers.
SAS Water offer a full training service and our clients include an excellent working partnership with Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council.
Gordon Tebay is the council’s Facilities and Engineering Manager. He said: “SAS Water’s team are experts in the field of Legionella Control and are affiliated to the Legionella Control Association [LCA].
“The control of Legionellosis is critically important to the safe use of buildings, site waters and occasional use waters – e.g. externally mounted on walls/posts bib taps in gardens and allotments. These are all essential attributes of the services the council offers its customers.
“We use SAS Water to help to facilitate training, to raise the core competencies of the Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council staff and our partners. It’s important to make our teams aware of the inherent dangers of the Legionellosis bug to humans. The training is not limited to legionella matters, it’s also about knowing how scale/limescale build up occurs, “gunge” inside pipes (Pseudomonas) and how the performance of water bearing piped services systems and fixtures can be materially affected by poor maintenance.
“SAS Water are also our council appointed party on the BS8680 and BS8580 Legionella Control waters systems Risk Assessments Audit.
“They sit on the council’s Water Safety Group / Water Quality Group and contribute tremendously to the competent working of the group.
“Keeping Legionellosis and Control of Legionella at the forefront of all persons’ minds helps to engender peace of mind that building’s are well looked after by the council. All work is to HSE standards, Acop L8 and HSG274.”
Lizzie Ward, Managing Director of SAS Water, said: “It’s fantastic to work closely with Gordon and his colleagues at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council and to help them to keep residents and staff as safe as possible from legionella bacteria and other waterborne issues.
“A Water Safety Group is a requirement under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections. Members share responsibility for ensuring that water-related risks are identified and assessed. A plan is implemented to ensure the appropriate control measures and monitoring strategies are implemented and followed.
“A water safety plan is essential and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council set high standards and are an excellent example of what is needed to keep people safe.”
To discuss training services or the need for a Water Safety Group, please contact SAS Water by email at info@saswater.co.uk, or call 01335 347058.
