Water Hygiene

Legionella & Water Hygiene

Legionella which causes Legionnaires disease and other illnesses are naturally widespread in water systems. You can only catch the disease by breathing in particles in the from of a ‘water mist’ or aerosol. You cannot catch the disease by drinking water.

MHA currently carry out an annual Risk Assessment at the sites where there is communal hot or cold water storage.

Using our specialised consultants we also carry out the following at these sites:

• Inspection of cold-water storage tanks (Six monthly).
• Visual inspection of the hot water storage vessels (calorifiers) and sample water from drain point (Annually).
• Visual checks of temperatures and settings of hot water storage vessels calorifiers (Monthly).
• Temperatures of hot and cold-water outlets at sentinel taps (Monthly).
• Legionella water samples taken (Annually).
• Cleaning and disinfection of shower heads (Quarterly).
• Flushing of infrequently used outlets (Weekly).
• Checking other outlets on a rotational basis over a 12-month period.
• Checking of incoming mains cold water temperatures (Annually).
• Record all maintenance activities in a suitable logbook and review annually.

MHA view domestic dwellings as minimal risk. There is rarely an occasion when a property is left in situ with no running water. Other mitigating factors such as electric showers and combi boilers, added to the soft water in Bradford reduce this risk further. We do encourage tenants to ‘flush’ or ‘run’ taps for a few minutes if a particular outlet has not been used for any length of time, or you have just returned from holiday.