Rank: Forum user 
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Hi, I've received a challenge from a colleague about the competency of our LRA contractors. The Water Risk Assessor meets the training and experience of a competent person as defined in the Approved Code of Practice and Guidance L8. However, this in itself does not evidence competency for carrying out Legionella risk assessments to BS 8580-1.
As duty holder, should we be requesting this evidence and what would satisfy BS 8580-1. Advice appreicated
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Hi Bradf,
are they listed with The Legionella Control Association (LCA)?
Regards R
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 1 user thanked RVThompson for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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Hi,
Funnily enough the email I got said they couldn't find them on there and I had a look and they came up straight away. Assume if they are on there that is satisfactory?
Originally Posted by: RVThompson 
Hi Bradf,
are they listed with The Legionella Control Association (LCA)?
Regards R
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Originally Posted by: bradf Hi,
Funnily enough the email I got said they couldn't find them on there and I had a look and they came up straight away. Assume if they are on there that is satisfactory?
Well it helps - but as far as im aware its no guarantee - you say they are compitant - have they been able to supply evidence of similar work for similar size companies etc?
Whos making the challenge? What competence do they have to do this? Back when i was an inspector i did have water treatment companies ring me to say a duty holder was breaking the law as they had cancelled the contract with them and were going to do the work themselves - as an inspector I had to politely tell them to stop wasting my time, as i could not say what i wanted to say!
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3 users thanked HSSnail for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I believe we all know what Competence is but how does anyone know exactly. It's all right doing all the learning and pass exams and get NVQs and stuff like that but a name on a Register does not IMHO mean Competence. An individual displays they are competent by doing their job safely, correctly, leaving everything as it should be with everyone going home alive and uninjured. There are many companies that offer to state you as a company are competent and many Clients have their own choice of company to prove competence, more often than not the two are not the same meaning that I have to jump through more hoops to allow my client to get the job.
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1 user thanked firesafety101 for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Being a member of the LCA means that the company has met their code of conduct requirements and passed an audit in relation to those requirements. This doesn't include assessing competency of individual assessors but does include checking the internal company processes related to them. It's a pretty good standard for the average user seeking an LRA to look for in their contractors and would, subject to some degree of basic checking of quality of actual work, satisfy enforcing authorities regarding your decision to use those contractors.
If you're looking for BS8580 compliance then there are some companies who go further than LCA membership and seek accreditation to ISO 17020 on that matter. They will undoubtedly charge you a higher fee for the work!
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1 user thanked Xavier123 for this useful post.
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Rank: Forum user
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I've worked in food processing and CQC regulated care environments where the Legionella control is done by the in house engineers following the HSE guidance. As with a lot of things, Specialist Consulutantcy company's can evolve or appear on the market to meet a need which is possibly engineered by scare-tactics and the media Managing legionella in hot and cold water systems (hse.gov.uk)
The engineers were all 'qualified' by virtue of training, NVQ/C&G/Degree and tbh, the routine management of Legionella isn't overly burdensome. Check temperatures, run-off the taps and shower heads monthly and similar non-technical tasks. 'Periodic' testing is advised in the above guidance, with no defined period, (of course), and this is easily done by a local Lab service who provide specimen containers and send the results.
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2 users thanked Pirellipete for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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If you look at L8( the ACoP) it describes the qualifications of a competent person in very general terms and does not specify any particular qualifications, membership of any organisation or even which standard to apply. This is because a) the government is not in the business of restricting employment to people with specific, qualifications, memberships etc and b) there is a huge variety of water systems out there and many are very simple and straight forward to manage. The complex systems, are probably older systems which have been added to over the years. For those competence is not about understanding legionella in general but understanding that system and all of its idiosyncrasies.
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1 user thanked A Kurdziel for this useful post.
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Rank: New forum user
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Hi BradF, Could you look to see whether your contractor has membership of Alcumus Safecontractor / CHAS or suchlike? If the company states that it has membership of a professional body, their register can be searched to verify.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Hi TheVenerableetc Could be entirely feasible that this contractor is on either of the databases you mention but NOT be competent to do legionnaire's risk assessments, particularly of more complex systems.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Originally Posted by: TheVenerableMrsAllen membership of Alcumus Safecontractor / CHAS or suchlike?
Not sure I would personally describe any SSIP (paid for verification to a scheme) as professional membership. Nor that any company Trade Association listing would be demonstration of individual competence.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Originally Posted by: TheVenerableMrsAllen membership of Alcumus Safecontractor / CHAS or suchlike?
Not sure I would personally describe any SSIP (paid for verification to a scheme) as professional membership. Nor that any company Trade Association listing would be demonstration of individual competence.
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