Legionella Risk Assessment

Legionella Risk Assessment

Landlords are under a duty to ensure that the risk of exposure to tenants, residents and visitors by Legionella is properly assessed and controlled. A Legionella Risk Assessment iscarried out to assess the risk of contracting Legionnaire’s disease from water within a property. We are trained to complete these assessments to a competent level.

We will carry out an in-depth site survey and will produce a full report with photos that will identify and assess sources of risk as well as how to manage, prevent and control these risks. Upon completion we will be able to provide a Legionella Risk Assessment. Areas we cover include Warrington, Widnes, St. Helens and the surrounding areas.

Cost: £50 Enquire

For most residential settings, the assessment may well show the risks are low, as long as simple control measures referred to in the assessment are followed. This will apply to houses or flats with small domestic type water systems where the water turnover is high. Provided the risk assessment shows that the risks are insignificant and the control measures are being properly managed, no further action would be necessary. It is important, however, to keep the assessment under review periodically in case anything changes to the system.

Domestic hot and cold water systems can provide an environment for legionella bacteria to grow and cause Legionnaire’s disease – a potentially fatal form of pneumonia caused by inhaling droplets of contaminated water.

The law is clear that if you are a landlord and rent out your property (or even a room within your own home) then you have legal responsibilities to ensure the health and safety of your tenant by keeping the property safe and free from health hazards.

Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) makes provision for relevant health and safety legislation to apply to landlords to ensure a duty of care is shown to their tenants’ with regard to their health and safety. The general duties require under section 3(2) that “It shall be the duty of every self-employed person to conduct his undertaking in such a way as to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that he and other persons (not being his employees) who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health or safety.”. Landlords, under Section 53 of HSWA are regarded as being self-employed and tenants fall into the class of “other persons (not being his employees)”. If you rent out a property, you have legal responsibilities to ensure you conduct your undertaking in such a way that your tenant(s) are not exposed to health and safety risks.

Areas we cover

Map of Areas Covered

Areas we cover include Warrington, Widnes, Runcorn, St. Helens, Newton-Le-Willows, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Rainford, Prescot, Rainhill, Appleton and Lymm.

Legionella Basic Checks

  1. Hot water should be heated and stored at 60°c and come out of the taps at 50°c after being run for 1 minute.
  2. Cold water should not be above 20°c after being run for 2 minutes
  3. Any water within the property should not be discoloured or contain any debris.
  4. If showers are only used occasionally, tenants should flush them through for at least two minutes every week
  5. The showerhead and any shower hose should be cleaned and disinfected every three months
  6. Avoiding debris getting into the system (eg ensure the cold water tanks, where fitted, have a tight fitting lid)
  7. If a property is empty for a significant amount of time, the hot and cold water systems should be flushed through by running all outlets for at least two minutes upon reoccupation.
  8. Make sure any redundant pipework is identified any removed

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