Failing to control legionella bacteria – or, worse, being responsible for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease – can be disastrous for a care home. Don't take any unnecessary risks, but take a legionella risk assessment instead. 

This year, Reading Borough Council was fined £100,000 after pensioner died of Legionnaires’ disease in one of its care homes. Another care home in Leicester was fined £17,000 for a raft of failings, including not putting measures in place to control legionella. And, in 2014, a nursing home in Hull was fined simply for not notifying authorities that its water systems had tested positive for legionella.

There are many cases like these, and they serve as a reminder that it simply isn’t worth taking risks with legionella – if you do, you can seriously damage your care home’s reputation and risk vulnerable lives. The vast majority of confirmed cases of Legionnaires’ disease (84.9%) affect the elderly.

Do I need a legionella risk assessment?

Legionella risk assessments are mandatory in care homes. But how do they work, and what should you expect from them?

The legal framework for legionella in care homes comes from two main sources: the Care Quality Commission’s Essential Standards of Quality and Safety and the Health and Safety Executive’s Approved Code of Practice.

Each care home must appoint a duty holder, who is responsible for:

• Assessing and identifying sources of risk
• Preparing a written scheme for preventing or controlling risk, as appropriate
• Implementing, managing and monitoring precautions
• Keeping full records
• Appointing a ‘competent person’ to take measures need to comply with the law.

In practice, this often means that the duty holder (who may be the care home manager or owner) will employ a third-party specialist as the ‘competent person’ to undertake a risk assessment and help put in place any preventative measures.

We have conducted many risk assessments for care homes, and while each building is different, these are just some of the things we look out for.

• Dead legs – or dead-end pipes that prevent water from circulating. These are common in older buildings.
• Checking to see whether pipes are insulated against temperature fluctuations that could encourage legionella growth
• Identifying risks caused by poor maintenance or siting of water tanks
• Ensuring temperature control, so that hot water is stored at a high enough temperature to kill legionella but distributed at a temperature that does not pose a scalding risk
• Identifying infrequently used outlets, such as taps in occupied rooms, where standing water can pose a risk.

We give each care home a detailed list of recommendations, and can then help them put these into practice. We can also provide you with a thorough inspection and maintenance programme, including the regular cleaning of cold water tanks and showerheads.

Once you have a strong legionella prevention regime in place, risk is kept to a minimum and it’s easy to keep on top of your responsibilities. With our help, you’ll keep residents safe and your red tape to a minimum.