Outbreak of Legionnaires' Disease in the Midlands
16th September 2020 Public Health England (PHE), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Sandwell Council are investigating three confirmed cases of Legionnaire's disease and six suspected cases in West Bromwich. Six of the patients are being treated in hospital. Eight of the cases were reported to PHE in the last week with a single case reported in July that has also been linked to the outbreak. Dr Adrian Philips, consultant in communicable disease control at PHE Midlands Health Protection Team, said: “While we do not curreRead More
LCA Standards Sub Committee
September 2020 The LCA Standards Sub Committee was reconvened in 2019 to perform a root and branch review of all LCA documents and processes. The drafting subcommittee is chaired by John Smith and is made up of members of the Management Committee with a review panel of LCA Assessors and Management Committee members. The Code of Conduct was originally created in 1999 and has incrementally evolved over the last twenty years. The Service Delivery Standards were launched in 2010 and have undergone various updates as HSE guidance and British Standards have evolRead More
Cooling Tower Intervention Programme receives BOHS Award Recognition
August 2020 British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) have recognised the hard work of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) by bestowing the 2020 Peter Isaac Award for outstanding initiative contributing to the reduction of ill health at work for their work on the Cooling Tower Intervention Programme (CTIP). Cooling Towers were a focus due to the HSE viewing them as a low frequency high consequence event (7 outbreaks between 2001 & 2011 resulting in 193 cases and 10 deaths).Read More
BSI Release New British Standard for Water Safety Planning
June 2020 BSI has released a new British Standard for Water Safety Planning; BS 8680:2020. The standard can be purchased here: https://shop.bsigroup.com/ProductDetail?pid=000000000030364472 This standard may be of specific use to LCA members who work with or develop water safety plans and general use for all interested in a holistic approach to water safety. The LCA supports the launch of this new British SRead More
ESGLI Guidance Sheets
April 2020 The European Study Group for Legionella Infections - ESGLI, has drafted some excellent specific guidance for managing legionella in specific settings. These are aimed at building operators in three sectors: Hospitals, Nursing/Care homes and other buildings. ESGLI Guidance for managing Legionella in nursing &Read More