Basic Legionella Management
If you own a commercial property, having a basic knowledge of legionella and legionaires disease is crucial because it keeps people safe and ensures your company complies with the relevant legislation. Training enables you to understand how to effectively manage and implement effective measures and strategies to deal with the threat of legionella. Bacteria known as legionella causes legionellosis and can be a fatal disease. This is a collective term for the disease which has over 50 strains. It can be fatal when the patient catches pneumonia. Some are more susceptible to legionella than others. Factors that place some people into higher risk categories of legionaires disease are:
- The age group of 45 years and over
- Those who smoke and drink heavily
- Sufferers of chronic respiratory or kidney disease
- Those with an impaired immune system
Over 200 new cases of legionnaires’ disease reported in the UK annually and at least half these cases are associated with foreign travel. This figure is a conservative estimate. The mortality rate varies between 5% and 30% depending on the strain.
Legel Duties and Compliance
Basic legionella management is an important part of maintaining commercial properties because it keeps those who use the building safe from this water borne disease. Legionella spreads through water systems and people contract it by inhaling droplets of water that contain the bacteria. Human beings catch the strain known as Legionella pneumophilia in 90% of cases identified.
Current legislation, set out by the Health and Safety at Work Act, and the HSE’s updated code of practice, known as L8, state that companies and building owners have a legal duty to manage legionella. So, if you are in control of a commercial premises, you have a legal responsibility to understand the risks associated with legionella, legionella symptoms and how it is transmitted. This includes landlords and employers.
Our interactive training course will help you to identify risk factors so you can manage them. You will learn how to set up processes to monitor water systems and cooling systems. This will ensure your property is safe from legionella and that you comply with all relevant legislation..
Please access the HSE’s website for more information on Legionella and Legionaires Disease
| Course Content | Module |
| What is Legionella? | 1 |
| Risk Areas | 2 |
| Legislation | 3 |
| Risk Management | 4 |
| Water System Monitoring | 5 |
| Cooling System Awareness | 6 |
Course Assessment
This online assessment for basic legionella training course is carried out by a series of multiple choice questions. Candidates must answer 70% of the questions correctly to pass each module. We advise you to complete each module and answer the question before moving on to the next module. This provides a better learning experience because you will need to have knowledge from earlier modules to understand some of the material in the later modules. For those who complete the course successfully, a PDF certificate of the award is sent directly to your inbox. Hard copies of the award are available on request. The course takes 75 minutes of training to complete. This is course content only and does not cover the time it takes to answer questions.
COSHH, The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, is a complimentary course to Legionella Managment.