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What is Legionnaires Disease, & what is legionella?
This article asks: is legionella testing mandatory? Find out if landlords need a legionella risk assessment and how to do a legionella risk assessment.
To truly understand Legionnaires disease, you must first start with the history of the condition. Legionnaires' disease is a sometimes fatal type of pneumonia that is caused by legionella bacteria finding its way into the lungs and colonising.
The name of the condition, Legionnaire's disease, is derived from the first identifiable outbreak. In 1976 during a conference held at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Pennsylvania, centred around the American Legion, two hundred and twenty-one of the attendees became very ill with a pneumonia-like disease. Thirty-four of these attendees later died.
Legionella or legionellae are rod-shaped bacteria that are part of the bacteria family known as legionellae. There are more than forty different identified species of legionella bacteria. Legionellosis is the group name that is given to the pneumonia-like illness that is caused by the legionella bacteria.
A decade ago, in 2010, the NHS reported that there were more than 350 reported cases of legionnaires' disease and 38 deaths in just England and Wales. It is widely thought that 116 of these infections had developed while the individual was travelling overseas.
Legionella Pneumophila is the name of the species of legionella bacteria that is found within the environment that is closely related to Legionnaires' disease. Pneumophila essentially means, when translated, "lung loving".
The way that most people catch Legionnaires' disease is through inhaling tiny water droplets, also known as aerosols, that contain legionellae bacteria. Aerosols can easily be formed through daily activities such as running a shower, using systems such as cooling towers and spa pools, or just by running the taps in your home.
The symptoms of Legionnaires' disease are similar to flu, and in some cases, people can even have Legionnaires' disease and not become ill at all. The illness can be treated with antibiotics such as erythromycin, but unfortunately, around 10 to 15% of Legionnaires' disease cases will result in death.
Can Legionnaires disease be cured?
Much like other forms of pneumonia, the treatment for Legionnaires' disease usually consists of a course of antibiotics. These will be given to the suffering individual right away, as soon as possible.
This means they will need necessarily need to wait for positive test results.
However, this antibiotic treatment is not always effective. When this is the case, alternative antibiotics will be prescribed. In particularly severe cases of Legionnaires' disease, the patient may be taken to a hospital when the antibiotics will be administered to them through a drip.
Do landlords need a legionella risk assessment?
When it comes to legal guidelines for dealing with legionella, then you should look to the Health and Safety Executive published L8, which is the Approved Code of Practice and Guidance for Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water systems. The L at the start of the title means that the code of practice has legal status and has been approved by the Secretary of State.
The book is designed for duty holders; this includes people such as employers and people with responsibilities regarding the control of specific premises, for example, a landlord. In order to comply with their legal duty, a landlord must do the following:
- Assess and identify any sources of risk within a property. This is known as a risk assessment
- When appropriate, prepare a written scheme for controlling the risk or preventing it completely.
- Manage, monitor, and carry out precautionary measures
- Keep a record of all these precautions
- Put a competent individual who has a deep knowledge of property and the necessary authority to assist with ensuring all the measures are taken to comply with the law.
This may appear very complicated at first, and may also indicate that all residential property landlords need to, in order to comply with their legal responsibilities relating to health and safety legislation, hire the services of an expert. But this is not always the case.
To meet mandatory legal requirements, the landlord must carry out a risk assessment of the property in question that will evaluate the property's risk of exposure to legionella. The risk assessment will consider elements of the property, such as the water temperature, water heaters, water tanks, and domestic hot and cold water systems.
In order to carry out a legionella risk assessment, the landlord is required to have an awareness of exactly what legionella is, as well as which systems are likely to be hazardous and which systems are low risk for legionella. Legionella awareness training is recommended for any landlords.
Once a landlord has all the necessary information and has gone through Legionella awareness training, they can then perform an easy risk assessment on the property. After the assessment has been completed, if the risk is deemed to be minimal, then health and safety law says that there are no further actions required. The risk assessment needs to be documented and checked whenever any changes to the property's water systems are made.
To sum up all the above, all landlords have a legal duty to carry out legionella risk assessments at their property. Just going through a simple online legionella awareness course will provide you with enough information to carry out a basic risk assessment yourself, although professionals can be hired if needed. If, after the assessment is done, the property is deemed to be minimal in risk, then no further action will be needed.
How often do I need a Legionella risk assessment?
When discussing rental properties with water systems that have the potential to pose a Legionella risk, it is recommended that the Legionella risk assessment process is gone through at least once every two years.
The risk assessment process also needs to be dealt with whenever a new tenancy is going to begin. We would recommend performing a Legionella risk assessment whenever any major changes are made to the property's water systems.
How long does a landlord Legionella risk assessment take?
The length that a professional Legionella risk assessment takes will vary depending on the property where the assessment is taking place.
The assessor will need to take the digital temperature of every single hot and water tap within the property, as well as a reading of all outlet pipes coming from water tanks.
The assessor will also need to take a look and inspect every showerhead and tap, make notes on any redundant pipework and flexible hoses, and access any water tanks that may be fitted in the property's loft.
If the property has a garden with an exterior tap installed somewhere, then this needs to be tested for limescale. Any outdoor hoses also need to be inspected.
A rough estimate of the time taken for a Legionella risk assessment would be around 20 minutes for a one-bedroom flat with a single bathroom and combi boiler. A three-bedroom home with two bathrooms, a garden, a hot and cold tank, and a utility room will take much longer, somewhere in the vicinity of an hour.
What other inspections and assessments do landlords need to carry out?
As a landlord, you should carry out the following:
Supply the tenant with a copy of the government's How to Rent guide when the tenancy begins
Check that every smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector is in working condition
Electrical safety inspection at least every five years
Gas safety inspection every year and supply a gas safety certificate to the tenant
An energy performance assessment also needs to be carried out to ensure the property has a rating of at least an E or higher.
If you are concerned about legionnaires' disease in Southampton and the surrounding areas, contact our expert consultant today. We can help you with legionella management and legionella control throughout Southampton, Portsmouth, Hampshire and the surrounding areas.