Essential Legionella Course: Prevention and Control Strategies

Under UK health and safety law, the management and control of legionella is an essential part of the duties of building owners, duty holders, facilities managers, employers or responsible persons. It is a duty holder’s responsibility to ensure there are adequate control systems in place to protect the hot and cold water systems from legionella bacteria. 

Legionella training courses are therefore an important part of risk management, ensuring the appointed responsible person understands the importance of water safety. 

Legionnaires’ Disease 

The control of legionella bacteria is important because of the risks it poses to humans. If there are large amounts of legionella in your water systems, there is a risk that they could be inhaled by people via aerosol droplets sprayed from taps, showers, jet sprays, water-based air conditioning systems etc. Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal type of pneumonia that is especially dangerous to older people or people with chronic health conditions. 

As an example, over the summer 19 people died after a Legionnaires’ outbreak in the Polish city of Rzeszow. Experts are speculating that the heatwave that affected many areas of Europe in the summer may have been responsible for the spread of the bacteria as water temperatures would have provided ideal conditions for the bacteria’s growth. 

Whether it’s fatal or not, an outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease can prove very harmful to your business. Not only could you face a hefty fine and the costs of the legionella remedial works, but you may also have to cease trading while the outbreak is investigated and put right. In addition, the adverse publicity will harm your reputation and turn customers away, ultimately affecting your bottom line. 

Legionella Training Courses 

Legionella awareness training is therefore a vital first step in fulfilling your business’s health and safety obligations. Our online and classroom-based Legionella & Legionnaires Disease training course will give you a better understanding of legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease, what your legal responsibilities are, as well as the importance of monitoring, maintenance, and what you need to do to manage the risks. 

For those who need to go into more detail, the Legionella Responsible Person training course will give anyone acting as the responsible person a better understanding of legal obligations, legionella risk assessment, legionella control measures, water hygiene and risk management strategies. It also includes a practical element. 

The Hot and Cold Monitoring and Inspection Services training course covers monitoring requirements and record-keeping and will equip you with the know-how you need to control the risk of legionella bacteria in your hot and cold water systems. 

In our Clean and Disinfection Services training course, you will study the legal requirements and regulations with regards to legionella as well as guidelines, schematics and asset risk assessment when it comes to clean and disinfection services, including practical training. 

Spa pools are a particular problem when it comes to the control of legionella. The Spa Pools Training Course will give you a good working knowledge of spa pools, their parts, how they work and why it is so important to manage the risks. 

Our Other Risk Systems Training Course covers other risk systems, looking at the different types and how they work.

uRisk Legionella Training Courses 

All our courses are CPD certified, and with the exception of the Online Legionella Awareness course, are all classroom-based. To receive certification, participants must complete the course and pass a multiple-choice test. 

Every training course is written in accordance with the Approved Code of Practice L8 (HSG 274) and is aimed at duty holders and the legionella responsible persons for the health and safety of buildings with cold water systems of any size.