2015 Legionella Guides

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "2015 Legionella Guides"

Dorothy Walsh
5 years ago
Views:

1 2015 Legionella Guides Presented by Reginald Brown

Legionnaires disease Legionella are species of bacteria that are widespread in the natural environment Legionnaires disease is a particularly nasty type of pneumonia acquired by breathing

2 Legionnaires disease Legionella are species of bacteria that are widespread in the natural environment Legionnaires disease is a particularly nasty type of pneumonia acquired by breathing in an aerosol containing legionella pneumophila bacteria Named after the 1976 Philadelphia outbreak at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel that killed 34 people and caused illness in 221 others. 2

3 BSRIA legionella guides Originally published in 2000 Some of the material incorporated in L8 (2000) Provided a framework for information gathering during risk assessment and subsequent operations Outlined a practical methodology for risk assessment Set out the questions the duty holder needed to ask about different kinds of risk systems and the information to be recorded on a regular basis Suitable for use by building operators and specialist assessors 3

4 BSRIA legionella guides 4

5 Why review the guides? Changes to published guidance Approved Code of Practice L8 Legionnaires Disease with HSG 274 Parts 1-3 (2013) BS 8580 Water quality Risk assessments for Legionella control (2010) CIBSE TM13 Minimising the risk of legionnaires disease (2013) Building Regulations Approved Document G3 but has anything really changed? 5

6 Then and now Domestic water systems in most buildings still rely on the temperature regime (more than 50 C in one minute or less than 20 C in two minutes) Cooling towers still rely on chemical disinfection Action limits for bacteria in water have not changed significantly There are still cases of legionnaires disease each year in the UK and some recent serious outbreaks in our European neighbours The fatality rate is around 10% 6

7 Causes of death (2006) Legionnaires disease 47 Workplace accidents 241 MRSA 1,652 Road traffic accidents (2005) 3,201 Cancer (2005) 126,600 All deaths 502, % of all deaths due to Legionnaires disease Sources: HPA, HSE, National Statistics 7

8 But there are some changes In the ACOP Change in role definitions e.g. responsible person Reduction in bureaucracy for small enterprises (less than 5 staff) Employers must now provide information and training to all staff that might influence the risk exposure In HSG 274 Emphasis on the control of fouling and corrosion in cooling towers Temperature measurements on the hot water return loop Increased monitoring of non-sentinel outlets 8

9 Beyond the regulatory changes Legionella risk assessment and compliance monitoring has become a major industry in its own right The internet provides opportunities to automate data collection but will this lead to a reduction of risk? Public awareness of Legionnaires disease is heightened by frequent and widespread reporting of fatalities and occasional prosecutions though the understanding of risk and infection routes and is still poor. 9

10 News reports Fears mount of another Legionnaires' outbreak as toll hits 80 after eight more people are diagnosed with the deadly disease Leading Legionnaire s expert claimed cash-strapped firms were deliberately falsifying safety logs and said the practice could have devastating consequences Bacteria thought to have been transmitted via droplets of infected water from cloud of gas rising into the air Labourer Robert Air, 56, died from deadly bug in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary Tens of thousands at risk as epidemic could spread 44 square miles from source Portugal Legionnaires' disease outbreak kills five An outbreak of Legionnaires' disease has killed five people and infected more than 230 others in Portugal, the authorities there say. Most of the cases have been in Vila Franca de Xira, a town about 25km (16 miles) north-east of Lisbon. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says the outbreak constitutes a "major public health emergency". June 2012 November

June 2015 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust fined 50,000 for failing to control legionella after the death of a patient.

11 June 2015 Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust fined 50,000 for failing to control legionella after the death of a patient. The court heard that although the Trust was monitoring legionella and water temperatures across its various sites between October 2010 and November 2011 a total of 114 positive legionella tests and a further 651 records of water temperatures outside the required parameters were not adequately acted upon. Chloride dioxide units were fitted at five sites to control the bacteria, but HSE inspectors found they routinely failed to emit the required dosage to work effectively. 11

September 2015 Chromalloy UK Limited fined 110,000 with 77,252 in costs after admitting breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

12 September 2015 Chromalloy UK Limited fined 110,000 with 77,252 in costs after admitting breaching Sections 2(1) and 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act During a visit to Chromalloy s site in May 2012, a HSE inspector felt spray on his face, saw the yard s surface was wet and that nearby cooling towers were corroded. The inspector extended his visit to the rest of the Somercotes factory plus the company s site at Eastwood, and found significant failings in the company s control, recording and management of legionella risks resulting in 4 improvement notices. As well as failing to maintain its infrastructure, Chromalloy did not keep biocides at effective levels. Levels of legionella found in the system required immediate disinfection. 12

13 Re configuring the guides AG 20/2000 Risk assessment BG 57/2015 Risk assessment AG 19/2000 Operation and maintenance AG 21/2000 Legionellosis control logbook BG 58/2015 Operation and maintenance logbook 13

14 Risk assessment 14

15 Who is BG 57 aimed at? Anyone with a modicum of training can carry out a risk assessment provided they understand the system they are looking at and what questions to ask A simple risk assessment for a small business with simple systems at a single location should be well within the capability of the responsible person For larger and more complex buildings on multiple sites the task may rapidly overwhelm the available internal resources in terms of time and expertise. 15

16 The DIY option? Hospitals Industrial plants Increasing complexity & risk Hotels & residential Leisure facilities Offices & schools Small businesses 16

17 Function of the guide to risk assessment The original function of the guide to risk assessment was: a. to help the responsible person carry out their own risk assessment or b. to provide benchmark against which offers of risk assessment services could be judged for scope and completeness It provides a procedural framework for collecting the necessary information about the risk systems and establishing the written scheme 17

18 Design to handover 18

19 Initial risk assessment to review 19

20 Periodic risk reviews 20

21 Use of the forms In addition to the background information on risk assessment and relevant feature of specific water systems the guide provide a series of forms that can be used to record information These forms are downloadable from BSRIA web site as Word documents and can be used directly, edited to suit the specific system on site, or simply used as a source of ideas. 21

22 Systems covered by the forms for risk assessment and condition survey Cooling water Spray humidification Domestic water Water softeners Spa pools Fire suppression Car washes Horticultural irrigation Fountains Machine tool cooling Rainwater Grey water 22

23 Risks 23

24 Risks 24

25 Risks 25

26 Risks 26

27 Condition survey and risk assessment Condition survey The collection of information about the current condition of the system by direct inspection and testing Risk assessment The evaluation of all available information about the system to assess the current level of risk and risk reduction opportunities For new buildings risk assessment and risk minimisation starts at the design stage The guide treats these as separate activities 27

28 Operation and maintenance 28

29 Operation and maintenance The day to day control of risk depends on maintenance staff following the written scheme and reporting any issues that would increase the risk. The risk assessment is supposed to be a living document There is a very real danger that small companies rely solely on periodic visits by external specialists and do not participate in the regular monitoring recommended in HSG

30 Operation and maintenance The guide provides a framework for the log book that will demonstrate that you have Complied with the written scheme including operational procedure and regular checks Complied with the recommendations of the risk assessment (or recorded why you did not) Responded appropriately to changes or incidents that would influence the risk A risk assessment is worthless unless you implement the recommendations 30

31 Conclusions There is a great deal of freely accessible information available about legionnaires disease and your legal responsibilities as designer building operator or service provider If you don t carry out the risk assessment or condition surveys yourself the BSRIA guides will help you to understand what level of information should be expected from specialist service providers 32

32 Thank you 33

Copyright ISHEM Limited 1

Copyright ISHEM Limited 1 Controlling Legionella and Legionnaires Disease: Outbreak Case Studies FM IRELAND 8 MARCH 2016 2016 ISHEM Ltd The information in this document is the property of ISHEM Ltd and may not be copied or communicated