Why do we need water safety/legionella records?
Water safety records are critical in maintaining a successful water safety management system. They are also required to prove we are managing and operating our water systems safely so the risk of harm to staff, visitors, and the public is minimised.
We also learnt that in the prosecution following the largest Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak in the UK (Barrow-in-Furness 2002) several of the failures found related to a lack of water safety records, such as; legionella risk assessments, risk minimisation schemes, legionella training records, and a written management system.
How can we improve water safety records?
Before we consider how to improve record keeping, we need to ask what water safety records do we need and do they need improving?
Firstly, the following are examples of water safety records that are required to be kept:
- Legionella risk assessments
- Water Safety Plans
- A written Scheme of Control
- Schematic drawings
- Legionella training records
- Monitoring and inspection records
Secondly, are your water safety records…
- Readily available?
- In date?
- Signed?
- Accurate?
- Effective?
- Organised/auditable
Records must be readily available, in date, effective, accurate, and auditable
If they do not satisfy the essentials above, there may be some advice to help to improve your record keeping below.
Methods of storing water safety/legionella records
There are many ways in which records can be stored, but whatever method is used, it must work for your organisation, ways of working, and water systems. Such methods include:
- Paper-based logbooks kept on each site or centrally
- A document management system or file structure on a computer and /or server
- Bespoke software
- Cloud-based files
- Microsoft Teams/SharePoint files
- A blend of the above
Unfortunately, not all record-keeping methods work for all organisations, so it is important to find a way that works for you.
Also, an organisation’s resources, and perhaps risk appetite, will need to be considered, as an expensive software option may not be achievable for all budgets.
How to improve record keeping
To review how to improve your current record keeping, you need to consider each essential listed above and the solutions to help.
There is no escaping the fact that keeping water safety records is a requirement of the HSE’s ACoP L8, which supports compliance with the Health and Safety at Work etc Act and COSHH regulations.
Organisations must supply suitable and sufficient resources to undertake the required tasks and keep the records to prove it.
And organisations must find a way that works for them to store and rely on records if called upon.
Organisations must provide sufficient resources to create and maintain records
In summary
Records that are inadequate or missing are as non-compliant as no records at all, which may leave an organisation open to prosecution.
There are tips, tricks, and technology to make records easier to store, maintain, and analyse, but the fact remains that, without the time and resources allocated to it, your records may always be broken.
