Hello everyone, A quick question, one of our cleaners is being asked by our client to carry out (and record)the flushing of a basement tap. The tap has been identified as a source of stagnation due it's infrequent use. Should our cleaner be sent on a Legionella awareness course in order to cover ourselves in the event of a Legionella outbreak? I know it sounds a bit like 'using a sledge hammer to crack a nut'. However I am also aware that the ACOP has been updated and the enforcement authorities would take a rather dim view of us a business if we are getting involved in Legionnela control measures without providing the cleaner with some sort of training. Thoughts please (be nice). Thanks DHM

Thanks JYoung, as I imagined!

DHM Its not necesary for your cleaner to go on an awareness course to flush a tap! So long as they flush the tap to the required length of time and regularity, and record their actions, then thats ok. However, attending an awareness course is a good thing! Its not the Duty holder who has to do the tasks, his duty is to ensure the tasks are carried out in a competent way? By asking you and the cleaner to do it, then thats fine. He may well be asked to prove competence, which takes us back round to training?

I don't think it needs a legionella awareness course to enable someone to turn a tap on either. An issue that none of the other answers have flagged, however, is that the point of the flushing is to prevent the legionella reaching a dangerous level. That is, if you do the flushing then there isn't legionella, so you don't need to know all about it. Maybe they only need the awareness course if you don't flush the tap.

I have to agree with achrn here. At my last place we sent our facilities people on awareness courses, or delivered them in house, but that was because they had to log temperatures, or in some cases test for dissolved copper ions, and generally manage large complex circulating hot water systems, as well as institute out low-use flushing regimes and so on. The domestics usually did the low-use flushing, as well as the shower-head cleaning and so on, and we didn't train them beyond some informal instruction and orientation delivered by the facilities people. This worked for us, for a given value of 'worked'; we did have one case where the temperatures logged were low for about a year and no corrective action was taken, but that was isolated and the people involved had been trained, they just had their minds on other things..... John