Extracted from an article published on Shropshire Star website on 7 July 2018. To read the full article click here.
The below news article highlights the importance of regularly testing water systems, in order to prevent cases of the potentially deadly legionnaire’s disease.
“Parts of [a] Hotel – where a guest died after contracting Legionnaires’ disease – are still closed off after Legionella bacteria was found for a second time almost two months ago.
Shropshire Council met officials from Public Health England to discuss the hotel on Thursday and decided more work is needed.
Matthew Aldridge, health protection team manager at Shropshire Council, said: “Further works at [the] Hotel are still ongoing and the hotel won’t reopen until the relevant assurances have been provided.”
The hotel was closed in September and reopened after two months of remedial work.
Elaine Brown, 69, died on August 26 last year after suffering a stroke as a result of the disease, which was linked to bacteria in the plumbing at the hotel.
Another guest contracted the disease and was diagnosed in April 2017. They have since recovered from the disease. Legionella organisms are commonly found within water in the natural environment.
When levels of the bacteria are elevated in water supply systems there may be a risk of contracting Legionnaires’ disease within 14 days of exposure.
The [hotel] was put up for sale in January for more than £2.6 million.
The hotel was built in 1619 and is one of Ludlow’s best-known listed buildings.
Earlier this year, a joint statement from both the council and PHE confirmed the measures taken to prevent any further incidents.
It said: “Following routine sampling of the water system at [the] Hotel by Shropshire Council’s regulatory services team, elevated levels of Legionella have been detected in the water system at the hotel.
“Working with Public Health England, a joint decision has been made to implement urgent measures to reduce Legionella levels in the water system and prevent any risk to staff and guests who use the hotel.
“This includes a temporary voluntary closure of parts of the hotel until further precautionary works can be carried out.”
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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted numerous hotels for failing to control the risk of legionella.
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Did you know?
All workplaces have legal duties under the Health and Safety Executive’s publication of ‘The Control of Legionella bacteria in Water Systems – Approved Code of Practice and Guidance (ACoP L8)’ and Technical guidance HSG274. Statutory duties are placed on the duty holder (the person in control of the premises) who must appoint a ‘Responsible Person’ to manage the control of Legionella.
Industry best practice is to carry out a site specific Legionella Risk Assessment on all water systems and there is a duty to keep Monitoring data for five years.
ZetaSafe legionella software is perfectly placed to meet this requirement as complex or extensive estates can drown in the paperwork that is generated. It is even more challenging to spot trends and patterns with paper records which can diminish your ability to make the timely interventions to help minimise risks.
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ZetaSafe can release your time and resources, allowing you to focus your attention on running your hotels.
Click the image below to explore ZetaSafe.
- Ensure Water Safety / Legionella compliance to ACoP L8 and HSG274 / HTM 04-01.
- Personalised dashboards can be configured so that each stakeholder has easy access to the most important and relevant data to them.
- Managers and supply partners can view the same information simultaneously wherever there is internet access, saving them time and resources.
- Integrates to other systems such as CAFM*, Property, Facilities / Maintenance Management, PPM systems, Workforce Scheduling and Accounting Ledgers. *ZetaSafe integrates directly with Qube Planet FM.
How does it work?
- Smartphones, tablets or even PDAs with bluetooth temperature probes can be used to collect data and the system is already programmed with the prescribed L8 and HSG274 temperature limits and frequencies and for the other manual inspections required too.
- ZetaSafe Legionella logbook software puts you in control; you can schedule your tasks, manage failures or defects and analyse any trends. ZetaSafe makes it easier and more visible to help ensure compliance.
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