Tag Archive for: water quality

Legionella Risks in Australia as a whole?

legionella risk management questions

Many of you have heard about the requirement for Health (hospitals and day hospitals) and aged care in Queensland requiring a Water Risk Management Plan.  You may be in a situation where you don’t reside in the sunshine state or you have facilities outside of Queensland and you don’t know whether you should have a Water Risk Management Plan or whether you should be actively doing something about risk.

Well the answer to that is YES you should be doing something.

Why? Let me give you a few reasons.

Legionella just doesn’t stop at the border it is endemic to all water sources and therefore any man made water systems are at risk to Legionella.  In every state and territory we have an OHS Act requiring a workplace safe from risk or harm.

In every state in Australia they have some form of guidelines, codes of practice or public health regulations that regulate the risk of Legionella in a Health or aged care setting.  As well as nationally there are guidelines out from Enhealth for the ‘Guidelines for the  Control of Legionella in the operation and maintenance of water distribution systems in health and aged care facilities.’

If you would like assistance in developing a Water Risk Management plan for a facility of yours whether it is inside QLD or elsewhere in Australia or just to be pointed in the right direction.  Call Jonathan Mutch now on 0429431709 or send through a message here.

Why you need an Independent Audit for Cooling Tower Management

 

Undertaking an audit of your cooling tower system can assist in highlighting areas which maybe lacking as part of the site risk management plan. These may even hint to weaknesses in the entire system. Perhaps you get repeat high microbiological results or issues with water chemistry such as scaling or excessive water loss.

 

With increased scrutiny and more perceived responsibility, you can be assured that standards remain high and there is a trustworthy paper trail which you could rely on if ever needed. Impartial audits ensure that there are no hidden motives at work. Imagine scrambling for paperwork during a retrospective site investigation and finding there are gaps or questionable information on the reports?

 

Errors which have been over looked can be caught by the independent auditor, if you are a building manager or a member of a body corporate and cannot easily understand the results, can you truly sign off reports with confidence, if you find it difficult for you to differentiate between consistency or anomalies? Would you know if your cooling tower meets its key performance indicators set out by the risk management plan?

 

An annual Cooling Tower Audit helps to estimate the effectiveness of the water treatment in use and is a system of continuous improvement which can help to eliminate foreseeable issues from occurring.

 

If you have concerns and questions about your current cooling tower regime and feel you would like an overview, please feel free to contact:- Andrew – 0429 431 709