Aims:

To provide background and an overview of the risk of legionella infection and how it can be controlled in domestic type hot and cold water systems.

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Course Content:

Learning
Outcome:On successful completion, the student shall be able to demonstrate knowledge of

The origins of legionella and the factors which allow it to proliferate to hazardous levels in man-made water systems.
The main conditions which cause legionella infection to occur in susceptible individuals.
The fundamental principles of assessing the risk of exposure to legionella in domestic hot and cold water systems.
The legal requirements,approved codes of practice and best practice guidance.
Implementation of legionella control regimes with suitable monitoring programmes and records.
Course
Length:
It is envisaged that this course will be conducted over 1 day which includes the examination. This
course will require 6 hours’ study time
.
Content:
Topic
Time Allocation
1 Introduction and History of the Organism 15%
2 Legislation and Guidance 15%
3 Risk Assessment of Systems 25%
4 Operational Control 20%
5 Outbreak Investigation Procedures 10%
6 Record Keeping 5%
7 Case Studies 10%

1 Introduction and History of the Organism [15%]
1.0.1 The occurrence of legionella, sources and primary cause of growth in man-made water systems.
1.0.2 Types and significance of the bacteria.
1.0.3 The infection chain, susceptibility to infection, symptoms, treatment and prognosis.
1.0.4 Health effects on exposed people.
1.0.5 Review of data gathered by Public Health England (PHE) and others.

2 Legislation and Guidance [15%]
2.0.1 Acts of Parliament
2.0.2 Approved codes of practice, HSE guidance notes, British Standards. Other industry accepted good
practice sources of information.

3 Risk Assessment of Systems[25%]
3.0.1 Role of the named duty holder and responsible person(s).
3.0.2 Definition of competent responsible person.
3.0.3 Key components of the management and control systems.
3.0.4 Design and operation of domestic type hot and cold water systems.
3.0.5 Importance of schematic diagrams and sentinel outlets.
3.0.6 Sentinel points on hot water systems with a circulation.
3.0.7 Significance of dead legs, blind ends and inaccessible parts of the water system.
3.0.8 Miscellaneous Systems.

4 Operational Control [20%]
4.0.1 Duties and responsibilities of responsible person(s).
4.0.2 The role, risks and responsibilities when subcontracting part of the task of the control strategy.
4.0.3 The written scheme of precautions including routine temperature checks and routine condition inspection.
4.0.4 Other control strategies—Ionisation, ClO2, etc.
4.0.5 The role of general bacteriological testing as part of the control strategy.
4.0.6 Corrective or remedial actions.
4.0.7 Record keeping, the details required for effective management control and retention of monitoring data

5 Outbreak Investigation Procedures [10%]
5.0.1 The appointment and role of a Proper Officer and Incident Control Team.
5.0.2 Definition of an outbreak.
5.0.3 The roles of the investigating organisations (HSE, PHE, Local Authority).
5.0.4 Control and Investigation phases.
5.0.5 Interpreting the patterns of cases to trace the source; interpreting the microbiology to trace the
source and the role of sequence based typing (SBT)

6 Record Keeping
6.0.1 Regulatory requirements for record keeping.

7 Case Studies [10%]
7.0.1 Causes of recent Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks and the suspected water system sources.
7.0.2 Prosecutions P901 Syllabus (011214)GM.

8 Examination
There is a closed-book examination comprising of 20 short answer questions to be answered in 60 minutes.
The examination covers sections 1 to 6 of the syllabus in proportion to the time allocation given on the front page the syllabus.

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Course Duration

1 day

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Number of Delegates

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Certification

PROFICIENCY CERTIFICATE in Legionella — Management and Control of Building Hot and Cold Water Services