The first-ever Legionella outbreak with over 200 victims was in Philadelphia – United States in the year 1976. Throughout history, scientists have discovered over 50 species of Legionella bacteria.
In the UK the first outbreak took place at the Staffordshire Hospital in the year 1985 with 100 cases of which 28 died.
Following multiple outbreaks, managing the risk of Legionella has fallen under HSG274 and COSHH.
How can you prevent Legionella?
Legionnaire’s disease is formed from an infection by a bacteria found in water. Several systems like cooling towers, showers, and air conditioning are catalogued as high risk when it comes to Legionella.
Because Legionella is formed in the water at temperatures of 20°C – 45°C, ensuring that temperatures always stay to the following levels:
- 50°C above for hot water
- 20°C below for cold water
For businesses with many high-risk systems, manual temperature monitoring can be both time-consuming and expensive
A more reliable and lower-risk approach is to install a water temperature monitoring solution to report live temperature readings in the water system.
In line with the LCA guidelines, it’s also advisable to conduct a Legionella sample testing from your water systems once every 2 years just to make sure everything is fine.
