Legionella outbreaks spark industry response

London - The recent outbreaks of legionella in Stoke-on-Trent and Edinburgh have led to a spike in activity among UK process plant operators and regulators to ensure effective measures are in place to counter the threat.

Legionellosis, or Legionnaires’ Disease, is a type of pneumonia originally named after an outbreak that affected a number of attendees at an American Legionnaires Convention in 1976. It is often linked to emissions from industrial water systems, particularly cooling towers.

The Edinburgh outbreak hit the headlines at the beginning of June and resulted in the death of three men and affected over 100 people in total.

Investigations led to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) serving an improvement notice on a pharmaceutical company and a distillery in the city but it is widely believed that the source will never conclusively be identified.

Nevertheless, industry has responded, as witnessed by Develop Training, which has seen bookings for its legionella training courses more than double between May and June, with numbers up 181%.

Delegate numbers have risen steadily since March but the increase seen in June is a significant jump, which Tony Green, business manager for water systems at Develop Training, attributes to the outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in Edinburgh.

“Last month we spoke out about the need for industry to react to the Edinburgh incident and it seems that people have listened.

“June bookings were up a huge amount on May - in one month alone we have trained more than half the number we saw in the previous three months combined. We’re also up on last year by more than 10%.

“Water systems training is always in demand as the regulations regarding the maintenance and control of water supply systems are particularly strict but we haven’t seen this level of bookings for a long time.”

However while the story has dropped out of the headlines, it appears its impact is still very much front of mind, which Green says is just as it should be.

“Every year there are around 300 reported cases of Legionnaires’ disease in England and Wales and many more go unreported,” he said. “A large reported outbreak, such as the one in Edinburgh, raises awareness of the issue but then people forget - until the next time.
“We want to stop this happening; the need for proper maintenance and training is ongoing and should be a priority 100% of the time, not just in the wake of a serious incident.

“Hopefully the increase in bookings we have seen is a sign that industry is beginning to take note and put legionella training at the top of the agenda.”

Oil & gas

The oil and gas industry, meanwhile, has also received new guidance from the Energy Institute (EI) on how to manage the control of Legionella bacteria in its facilities.

The EI’s occupational health and hygiene (OHH) committee has updated its existing technical guidance on Legionellosis management systems and legionella control, providing recommendations, further reading and example logbooks for carrying out assessment checks.

Legionellosis risk management and Legionella control - Guidance for oil and gas facilities, offshore platforms and refineries covers the requirements of the HSE approved code of practice (L8) for ‘The control of legionella bacteria in water systems’.

Commenting on the updated guidance, Lynne Morgan FEI, chair of the OHH committee, said: ‘The problem for industry is that water systems can become heavily contaminated with potentially lethal bacteria.

“The [aim] is to advise industry on appropriate workplace, health protection issues and, where possible, provide relevant technical guidance and control measures.”

A second publication, entitled Cooling tower maintenance and other controls for the effective management of Legionella risk, will be available later in the year.

HSE notice

The HSE, meanwhile, has issued a safety notice to draw attention to need for the proper management of the risks from legionella. It highlights the potential risks from failings in control at cooling towers and evaporative condensers and other water systems.

According to the HSE, 90% of the outbreaks have their root causes in failures to identify possible legionella problems or to put in place effective schemes of control to deal with the identified risks.

These failures left the plant vulnerable, for example, to departures from planned maintenance and cleaning schedules or changes in the process that render existing precautions ineffective.

In this regard, the HSE has flagged dangers such as staff/contractor changes, which can lead to a loss of vital knowledge, and inconsistent control measures due to intermittent use of plant. Operators, it said, should also be aware that bacteria multiply very fast in warm weather.

The written scheme for controlling the risk should be specific to the site and system, and supported by clear working procedures, and should be updated whenever ability to control the risks change, the Executive advises.

Monitoring of water quality should include specified visual checks of the chemical and biological monitoring system, the HSE noting: “routine monitoring of bacterial levels, while a good tool, is no substitute for making sure the plant is kept in good condition and is cleaned regularly.

“Carrying out system monitoring, then interpreting the results and identifying trends, all need specialist knowledge. For instance, it is not good practice to rely on frequent shot dosing for routine control without identifying the underlying problem of why the bacteria levels keep increasing.”

Lack of training and poor communication have been identified as contributory factors in outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease.

“It is therefore important that everyone involved is competent, trained and aware of their responsibilities,” said the HSE.

This is made more challenging by the likely division of roles between the company on site, maintenance staff, the water treatment contractor and, possibly, a separate subcontractor for cleaning and disinfection.

“Roles and responsibilities must be assigned to named individuals with clear lines of communication, tracking and signing off of work. The company must have adequate oversight of contractors … who should have clear responsibilities and reporting lines.” the executive concluded.