Water Hygiene Procedures in Council Premises

The following detailed procedures have been drawn up to ensure the risk from Legionella is minimised in Council buildings and is dealt with in accordance with legislative requirements and best practice.

• Buckinghamshire Council has appointed an appropriately qualified Consultant to survey and carry out risk assessments for all Council properties.

• A report containing a risk assessment and list of remedial work required to correct defects has been compiled by the Consultant for each establishment.

• The appointed Consultant has created a web portal which is the primary source of all this information and to which all appropriate staff have access. The Property Team will assess and prioritise any remedial work required, based upon the risk assessment and available funding. This will be a combination of housekeeping measures for which the premises will be responsible and changes in design for which the Council may be responsible, following the established protocols for maintenance responsibilities.

• If you download and keep a hard copy of the information, the Premises Responsible Person or Nominated Legionella Co-ordinator will need to put in place their own management regime, with audit trail, for keeping this copy set of records up to date; Charts to record Temperature and Flushing of Outlets can be found in Appendix 9.

• Headteachers/Managers of establishments must appoint a “Premises Responsible Person” and a “Nominated Legionella Co-ordinator” for each site under their control. (See Appendix 1 for definition).

• The Premises Responsible Person and the Nominated Legionella Co-ordinator are to carry out the duties referred to in the Legionella report. The collected information is to be recorded electronically on the web portal so that the Consultant can review and monitor the information on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council and take appropriate action.

• The Consultant to make monitoring visits to all properties at 6 month and 12 monthly intervals. This will be organised in collaboration with the Property Service Team.

• The Consultant to carry out a risk assessment review of each site at the end of the 5-year contract. This will be organised by the Property Service Team.