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Training for the control of Legionnaires' Disease

In the Barrow Report (Forum 28) 6 major failures were identified and number 5 was LACK OF TRAINING AND RESOURCES

The Report said :

Health and safety management of Barrow Borough Council was found to be lacking and under-resourced by the authority. The available resource was mainly reactive to requests for help and advice with no time for preventive checks. Vacancies in management posts were blamed for the shortage of risk assessments and absence of in-house monitoring.
Barrow Borough Council had a duty to identify all appropriate people requiring training and to make sure there were sufficient numbers trained to cover any absences or shortages. Staff responsible for the management of the control of legionella should have received training to ensure they were competent to carry out the work they were assigned to do.
Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974, there is a general duty on
employers to provide such training as necessary to ensure the health and safety at
work of their employees. New recruits have particular training needs, as do people
changing jobs or taking on extra responsibilities, and young employees. Regular
auditing and refresher training helps ensure people's skills are kept up to date.
Those appointed to carry out the legionella control measures and strategies should be properly trained to a standard that ensures tasks are performed in a safe and technically competent manner. Where posts that carry health and safety duties are unfilled, leaders must take effective steps to ensure that essential standards are not compromised.

 

L8 refers to training in Part 1 which is regulatory, found on pages 8,9 and 10. This I believe is as fundamental to legionella control as risk assessments are, logbooks and a management structure. Inadequate management, poor communication and lack of training have all been contributary factors in outbreaks of Legionnaires' Disease.

Ask yourself this -

  1. How can I be responsible if I don't know what I am responsible for?
  2. How can I do the correct monitoring and maintenance if I do not have the knowledge to perform in a manner to control legionella and report defects?
  3. How efficient will I be in flushing and able to identify when, where and why to flush?

The answer is simple, TRAINING.

Another few points that are very important -

  1. Is the training adequate for the task required?
  2. Is it accredited, supported with evidence of retained knowledge?

 

This is why I ensure that all courses have a suitable assessment paper on completion of the course to comply with L8 Page 9 paragraph 45.

Competence is also defined as having experience, knowledge, ability and other qualities needed to undertake legionella control but the most important part of that is TRAINING.

 

Please see links in this section at the top right hand side of the page for courses that are available with exam papers and supported CPD units included on the certificates. Bespoke courses are available, please contact me for more information.