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Posted By Robert Leonard
Hi,
I have some experience in Legionella risk assessments but thought this topic is a little different and am interested in my colleagues opinion.
I work for a landfill diversion scheme and we have been approached by a company who work with cooling towers at power stations. At present the pack material within the towers ends up in landfill at the end of its working life. Obviously I would rather see this recycled. We are looking at 1,120tonnes of plastic from each tower and an additional 30-40% in scale which we have also found a use for.
The problem comes from the legionella risk as the pack material will need to be shredded. This process will be undertaken on site and I see the problem lies in potential particle/aerosol generation that could be freely inhaled. The material will have been open to the elements so im assuming (rightly?) that there is a risk that legionella is present
We could require the use of PPE but following the shredding inhalable particles will still be present if the material is disturbed.
Does anyone have any suggestion e.g. level of risk?
Is pack usually consigned as a biological hazard when disposed of or is it one of these issues that you would rather the question was never asked?
In order to make recycling viable economics are important, therefore treatment is not possible.
We are considering shredding underwater?
Your opinions would be appreciated.
Thanks
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Posted By Jeff Manion
1) If the fill pack is dry the risk of legionella will be low.
2) Is the fill pack plastic? or wood? if wood it may contain arsenic.
3) PPE should include RPE if there is a level of dust.
4) Working with it under water may increase risks from biological point, as water will become dirty, and may not be "clean" as to bacteria sources, there may be an increase in temperature, this will increase the bacteria loading.
JM
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Posted By Robert Leonard
Thanks very much Jeff.
I had looked at RPE (sorry i meant RPE as opposed to PPE in original post). As the pack is going to be exposed to the elements I have to assume that it is going to be wet.
The pack is plastic, hence the recycling value.
Do you have any idea on the persistence of legionella. For example if we shred it with people wearing RPE we are going to have some fine material, some of which could be inhalable especially when disturbed. Do you feel post shredding this material would still be considered hazardous from a legionella perspective?
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Posted By J Knight
Hi Folks,
Just some thoughts really because I'm not an expert in this and have no experience of the particular circumstances discussed. However, what I do know is Legionella is a common widely distributed bacterium, which is found in all suitable water. The problem with Legionella in domestic water supplies arises from a super-abundance due to almost perfect conditions; relatively high temperatures and slow moving water, plus a human environment which ensures abundant inhalation of aerosol. If this stuff is outside and exposed to the elements it will be too cold for optimum Legionella growth, exposed to environmental UV (which kills bacteria), periodically dry and also inhabited by a complex bacterial flora some of which will predate or otherwise compete with Legionella. The near perfect conditions of a warm permanently wet sealed world won't obtain. So even though the pack may have high levels of Legionella in situ, once its out in the open I would expect this to change. Now as I say, this is not based on knowledge, and like all theories it could be exploded by inconvenient facts, but this would be my best guess; Legionella won't be a particular problem,
John
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Posted By Keith Holmes
Robert,
Legionella will only live or multiply wet, damp or moist conditions.
Generally the legionella bacteria lives for 3 days and is active in temperatures between 20 and 45 degrees.
You will need to question
How clean and damp are they and where stored i.e. in enviroment above 20 degrees
Have they been outside in the cold for a number of days
If damp and dirty then there is a greater risk but if the packers have been outside in the last week, the low temperature will mean if there is any legionella bacteria presence they will be dormant or have died off. Therefore low risk.
Keith
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Posted By Diane Thomason
Just a suggestion,
You could always have some one-off microbiological testing done on a few samples of wet packing material from a few towers. The testing contractor would then be able to tell you if there is a problematic concentration of infectious strain of L. pneumophilae.
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Posted By Jeff Manion
Robert Leonard
You could e-mail me direct for more information
JM
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