Risk Areas
Historically whenever Legionnaire’s Disease was mentioned people thought of air conditioning. Whilst this still holds some truth, most modern air conditioning systems are ‘air cooled’ and present very little risk. The old ‘wet cooled’ air conditioning systems (those associated with a cooling tower / evaporative condenser) caused the most problems, due to the production of an aerosol and their ability to affect a wide range of people.
Cooling towers and evaporative condensers are indeed high risk processes but tend to be tightly controlled by use of biocides and are subject to strict sampling and disinfection regimes. For the large proportion of properties the major risk from Legionella is posed from domestic services, to name a few;
Showers
Calorifiers
Cold Water Tanks
Deadlegs
Spa Pools
Infrequently used water outlets
In the majority of cases relating to Legionella in domestic water systems hot water calorifiers tend to cause the most problems as typically a large amount of water is stored at a luke warm temperature.
Aside from cooling towers, there are number of other risk areas associated with industrial premises. To name a few;
Vehicle Washes
Emergency Showers
Humidifier / fogging systems
All these processes and systems should be included in the Legionella Risk Assessment and a suitable ‘Scheme for Control’ draw up to control the risks.
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