Title: Lessons Learnt in Legionella: Preparing for the Unthinkable: A True Life Story From the UK
Learner Objectives:
To illustrate the importance of good competent risk assessment, staff training, site record-keeping and audit-taking in Legionella control and to show that it’s not just evaporative cooling towers that are a problem but domestic plumbing systems also. The presentation will be given using a case study from the UK persepective*.
*BerkshireLive (2014) Care home wash-basin was source of Legionella https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/care-home-wash-basin-source-legionella-4189161
Content/Topic Outline:
Presenter:
John Sandford CWT
Presentation Description:
“Experience is the hardest kind of teacher. It gives you the test first and the lesson afterward”. Oscar Wilde.
In 2012 a 95 year old resident of a council run care home died from legionnaires’ disease. The source of the Legionella bacteria that caused the infection was deemed to be a cold water faucet in the resident’s wash-hand basin.
In the UK there is a legal requirement to manage Legionella bacteria, but not just in cooling towers, also domestic hot and cold plumbed water systems and in any other risk system that contains water stored above 68oF and if Legionella isn’t properly controlled this can result in a criminal prosecution brought by the government agency the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) (the UK equivalent of OSHA).
In this case following the death of the resident the HSE launched a criminal prosecution of the facility owners and wanted to bring a manslaughter charge against the facility manager.
Following the rise in civil lawsuits and significant out of court settlements in the U.S. many predict similar criminal legislation will soon follow so now is the time to be mindful and be prepared if you operate within this sector.
This presentation plots a timeline from before the death of the resident up to the successful criminal prosecution of the council who owned the care home and gives an inside view of why things like water management during the construction and commissioning phase, the importance of competent risk assessment, staff training, excellent record keeping and audit taking are so important and why we as water treaters sit squarely in the sights of enforcement officers. The case study was extensively spoken about in Trace Blackmore’s Scaling Up! H20 podcast Ep 203
John Sandford CMIOSH CWT, and Director of SMS Environmental, a UK based water treatment specialist, discusses his experience and observations of one of the U.K’s highest profile Legionella cases brought to court and the lessons learnt from his experience.
He will discuss the case, some of the flaws identified in the construction and later management of the water system that lead to the criminal prosecution.
In particular John highlights what the experience taught him, what impact it had on his company operating in the water treatment sector, the importance he continues to place on establishing a good water safety program for building operators and on the significance of good record keeping, staff training and auditing to demonstrate your actions.
Presenter Bio:
John Sandford joined the industry when he was hired by Colin Frayne CWT back in 1990. John has over 30 years practical and research experience in the field of industrial water treatment and Legionella control; with extensive experience in the drafting of specificLegionellawater safety plans in Large Hospital Buildings. He acts as Legionella, Pseudomonas and other waterborne pathogens specialist advisor for Healthcare Trusts, Transport Franchises, Local Government Authorities, Universities, Federal Departments and Housing Associations.
He formed SMS Environmental Ltd based just south of Oxford in the UK in 2001, the company now has revenues in excess of $13.5 Million and is one of the largest independent specialist companies of its kind in the UK.
In 2020 he was elected to the Council of the UK Water Management Society (WMSoc), the UK equivalent of the Association of Water Technologies and n 2021 John proudly gained his Certified Water Technologist (CWT) and although not the first Brit to gain his CWT, proudly became the first person based in the UK to be certified.