News - Page 6

NEWSLETTER MARCH 2023
Legionella Control Association North America

The LCA in the UK are aware that a similar organisation has recently been set up in North America with similar goals.  UK LCA have had some initial queries and discussion with this group but are not directly involved in its funding, creation or development.   The LCA of North America did engage the LCA UK to support due to our similar goals. It was the view of the LCA Management Committee that this was above and beyond the remit of the LCA UK. We did ask LCA UK members to express an interest in supporting the LCA North America and this is being progressed as a separate e

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NEWSLETTER MARCH 2023
Getting the Correct People at Audit

For any audit there will be questions to ask and information to gather.  We rely on what we see in documentation, demonstration of systems and on discussion with staff.    When we review what we consider as successful and unsuccessful audits there is often an element of the people present or available on the day.  Where an LCA member is a relatively small company the audit can often be handled by one person who knows how all the processes work and is able to locate procedures and evidence when the auditor requests them.  For larger companies it c

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NEWSLETTER MARCH 2023
Competence for Everybody

One of the key changes in the 2021 rewrite of the LCA service delivery standards was the recognition that there is scope for legionella control work to be impacted by any member of staff: not just the technicians in the field doing the service delivery.  We detailed the identified roles of surveyor, designer, planner, technician, reporter, and auditor in each of the service delivery standards.  So, what does that mean?   Surveyor – this is the role of the person who gets the information necessary to quote a job or contract.  It could be a techni

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Sustained Compliance

December 2022   The LCA exists to raise standards in our industry on an ongoing and sustained basis.  We are aware that there are a small minority, about 5%, of our members that have had repeated non-conformances year on year and, in some cases, past suspension of membership.  After consultation with our enforcement colleagues, we have analysed several metrics including:   Past suspension of LCA membership Delays to LCA audit date  Late audit responses following LCA audit Compl

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Defining Risk

August 2022 In the risk assessments we audit we sometimes see confusion over the terms used to describe risk.  In the 2021 LCA Legionella Risk Assessment service delivery standard and in BS8580-1:2019 the terms Inherent, Residual and as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP) are used. The following is intended to help clarify the terms. Inherent Risk This is the underlying risk if there were no controls in place, or if controls were to fail or be removed.   For example, a hot and cold water system with sto

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