Legionella risk assessment

BSI, the business standards company, has released British standard BS 8580-1:2019 Water quality, risk assessments for Legionella control – Code of practice; a significant revision to the 2010 British Standard providing further guidelines for assessing water quality and the risk of Legionnaires disease.

This standard gives recommendations and guidance on the assessment of the risk of Legionellosis presented by artificial water systems. Legionellosis is a collective term for diseases caused by bacteria of the genus Legionella, an opportunist pathogen that normally inhabits warm, moist or aquatic environments. The most serious and potentially fatal is Legionnaires’ disease.

Outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease continue to happen today. Recently, an apartment building in New York City saw 50 casualties and two fatalities, while in England and Wales UK Government statistics reported four cases in 2018.