Top Legionella risk mitigation tips as we enter 2025

By Your Health Magazine

As we enter into the new year, lots of things have changed. From trade agreements to marketing tactics, the business world is constantly evolving, but some basic issues remain the same. Among those constants is the threat posed by Legionella bacteria, and the need to mitigate the associated risks.

Luckily, there are some tried and tested strategies that you can use to this end. From building a strong foundation with a Legionella Risk Assessment to committing to regular testing, here are some of the top tips you should be following as we enter 2025.

Assess your situation

To take Legionella risk management seriously, you need to start with a solid foundational understanding of what you’re working with. In most cases, this means having a Legionella Risk Assessment (or LRA) carried out by some kind of water hygiene specialist.

Your LRA will consist of more than just a basic report on what’s going on in the building. It will also include detailed site information, interviews with the responsible person and any other duty holders, and of course a clear overview of the risks that you’re facing and what needs to be done to manage them.

Cover the basics

As you will likely see in your Legionella Risk Assessment, preventing dangerous concentrations of Legionella bacteria isn’t actually that complicated, as long as you cover the basics. What this means in practice is preventing a specific range of environmental conditions from occurring, which could lead to the rapid and dangerous growth of Legionella pneumophila.

Practically speaking, this means preventing stagnant water (in pipes or any other kind of water container) from occurring between 20 and 60 degrees centigrade. Ensuring that this is the case may require making some changes to your existing water system, including the installation of thermometers and other environmental sensors.

Train your staff

While it’s true that legal responsibility for Legionella mitigation will rest on a select few responsible people, you still need to make sure that you train a number of other staff on what to watch out for. There are a number of different Legionella courses that you can choose between, many of them deliverable online. Whether you just need to provide introductory information on the topic or in-depth training for your Responsible Person, it’s crucial that you keep this training up to date.

Regular testing

Lastly, you can’t just test during your initial LRA and then forget about it. You will likely need to commit to regular testing, to make sure that your approach remains effective as time goes on. There will likely be other changes in your water system, and it’s imperative that these changes don’t have any unexpected negative effects on your Legionella mitigation measures.

Following these tips should leave you capable of dealing with the threats posed by Legionella as we progress through 2025. It’s absolutely a present threat nowadays, and it’s not going to go anywhere sometime soon – mitigation efforts must be ongoing, or you face potentially disastrous ramifications.