Legally, hotel owners have to shoulder an abundance of responsibilities. One of the responsibilities that they have is controlling legionella bacteria in the water systems, to provide safe and clean water to their customers, staff and anyone else using the premises. Any hotel owner who neglects their water and legionella control responsibilities could find themselves facing severe penalties, even if nobody is actually hurt.
It is vital that hotel owners understand their legal responsibilities and abide to the Approved Code of Practice regulations. It is also important that they understand the consequences of neglecting their responsibilities.
What is the Approved Code of Practice?
The Approved Code of Practice provides guidance to people with a legal water responsibility, such as hotel owners. It stipulates their legal duties in areas such as:
- Risk assessments
- Appointing someone as the ‘responsible person’
- The control scheme
- Reviewing control measures that have been used
- Responsibilities for those supplying water systems
A book detailing these legal responsibilities, along with more information on legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease, can be found on the HSE website.
What is Legionella Bacteria?
Legionella is a bacteria that is naturally found in water, in both natural and man-made systems. In natural water systems, such as lakes and rivers, the level of bacteria tends to be low, so it is harmless. In man-made systems, however, the conditions can encourage the Legionella bacteria to grow, causing it to become harmful. These bacteria can be found in a range of man-made systems, including (but not limited to):
- Sinks and faucets
- Showerheads
- Air conditioning
- Spa pools
- Hot tubs
- Decorative fountains and water features Humidifiers
When Legionella bacteria is inhaled it can cause a variety of diseases. Less commonly, people have also been known to become ill if they drink the water and some of it accidentally goes into the lungs (i.e., if the water “goes down the wrong way”).
It is the responsibility of the hotel owner to test and analyse their water and to clean and disinfect their water systems regularly. Failure to do so could result in fines, enforcements, or potentially even imprisonment, even if nobody is actually exposed to the bacteria.
What diseases can Legionella bacteria cause?
Legionella bacteria causes a range of diseases, collectively these diseases are termed Legionellosis. The diseases range from relatively mild, flu-like health problems, like Pontiac fever and Lochgoilhead fever, to Legionnaires’ disease, which is much more severe and could potentially be fatal.
The milder diseases, like Pontiac fever, usually disappear by themselves, although sometimes antibiotics are required. Legionnaire’s disease, on the other hand, is more serious.
Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal form of pneumonia, in fact one out of ten people will die as a result of contracting this disease. Every year in the UK between 300 and 400 people are diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease and approximately 10% of those people will die. Treatment for this disease requires hospitalisation, antibiotics and sometimes ventilation and/or other breathing interventions. Everyone is susceptible to infection, those at a higher risk include people who:
have an impaired immune system
- suffer from chronic respiratory
- suffer from kidney disease
- are diabetic
- have a lung disease
- have a heart disease
- are over 45 years of age
- smokes (or used to smoke)
- drinks heavily
Hotel owners’ responsibilities in a nutshell
There are lots of specific regulations set out by the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) and if you are thinking of owning a hotel it is imperative that you read and familiarise yourself with every single one of those regulations. But in a nutshell, here are your responsibilities, you must:
- Appoint someone to be responsible for ensuring the ACOP regulations are met 2. Use control measures
- Carry out risk assessments to
- identify all water systems at risk of becoming a Legionella bacteria breeding ground b. assess the consequent risk of human exposure to bacteria
- Regularly have your water tested and analysed
- Regularly clean your water tank(s)
- Use water chlorination services to disinfect the water
- Have the water tested and analysed, as well as have the water system cleaned and disinfected any time changes are made to some or all of the water system
All of these must be carried out by someone who is qualified in water management, they cannot be completed by just anyone.
The regulations state that water systems should be cleaned and disinfected at least once every two years (and every time a change is made to the water system). Although they state every two years, we actually recommend considering doing all of this annually. Given the consequences of not abiding to these guidelines and potentially putting lives at risk, it is much better to be safe than sorry.
Be sure to always choose a professional water management service to complete for you, to ensure that everything is done correctly.