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Our Services
Optima Compliance consultancy provide solutions for air and water risk management. We exist to work with organisations committed to achieving cost effective and efficient business compliance. We work with you, to help achieve your business strategy and corporate goals for health and safety through long lasting mutually beneficial business relationships.
Legionella Assessments
Holding a current Legionella risk assessment is essential to ensure the safety of people who use your water systems. Legionella bacteria can cause a potentially fatal form of pneumonia called Legionnaires' Disease, which can be contracted by inhaling contaminated water droplets. By conducting a risk assessment, you can identify potential sources of infection, evaluate the risk level, and implement appropriate control measures to prevent the spread of the bacteria.
Your legal obligations require you to protect yourself and anyone else that may be exposed to legionella bacteria through your work activities. The Approved Code of Practice Legionnaires’ disease; The control of legionella bacteria in water systems (ACoP L8) and HSG274 guidance identifies that a legionella risk assessment will help you meet your legal obligations. The guidance requires you to review your risk assessment regularly or whenever there is reason to suspect it is no longer valid.
Optima Compliance can produce its own independent risk assessments which tell you where you stand in terms of compliance and what you need to do next. All of our consultants are thoroughly professional, trained to the latest standards and with years of experience for your piece of mind.
All of our Legionella risk assessments are fully compliant with BS8580-1 2019, ACoP L8 and HSG274.
Legionella Policies
Understanding the legislation involved will help ensure you are protected. A successful Legionella Policy will consider the formal requirements to manage risk contained in the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (as amended), the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (as amended), and the requirement to report any legionella incident under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR).
A good Legionella Policy document will provide a route map for the successful management of legionella risk. Our support with Legionella Policy writing will ensure your aspirations and strategy for legionella management across your building portfolio is aligned with your business. By the end of the process, you will have a policy ready for authorisation that should ensure you are on the fast track for efficient compliance and the protection from the legionella risk associated with your business activities.
If you require a new Legionella Policy completing or would like us to review your existing policy, please contact us directly to discuss further.
Legionella Written Scheme of Control
ACOP L8 identifies that it is the duty holders responsibility to ensure a written scheme is implemented where there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of exposure to legionella bacteria. Unlike risk assessment ACOP L8 does not identify that this can be outsourced to a 3rd party because the intention is that it will be your (the duty holder’s) organisations document. At Optima Compliance we always seek to work within the guidance, ensuring our clients understand their responsibilities and implement written schemes that add value to their legionella management. Rather than just providing an off the peg logbook that frankly just sits on the shelf, we will work with you to ensure your written scheme guides you to compliance and becomes your first point of reference. The written scheme we produce will be your written scheme in a format that can evolve and be readily edited by your organisation in the future or with our support if required. It will be your detailed plan to ensure the legionella risk is effectively managed, but perhaps most importantly will set you up to deal with the difficult moments when control is being lost to ultimately ensure that control is never lost.
Please contact us directly to assist you with putting your written scheme together.
Legionella Training
ACoP L8 identifies the importance of competence for all involved in legionella management. Training is an essential element of this, and the guidance requires the training to be refreshed regularly.
Optima Compliance offer a broad range of training to meet the knowledge element of the competence equation. Specialising in Legionella awareness, the below courses cater for all your legionella training needs.
- Legionella Awareness
- Responsible Person - Legionella Risk Management (Hot and Cold Water Systems and/or Evaporative Cooling Systems)
- Evaporative Cooling and Associated Water Systems (Operatives)
- Hot and Cold Water Systems (Operatives)
- Client Specified (tailored training to deliver only the information needed for your water systems and written scheme of control)
Read more about the training we offer here
Water Hygiene Monitoring
It is one thing to complete routine monitoring of your water systems, but it is another to be able to evidence acting on the results.
At Optima Compliance we have invested in portal technology that takes the global assets directly from the legionella risk assessments and sets you up a bespoke regime that when initiated, flags all out of parameter results as unresolved issues. We then work together to resolve these issues leaving an electronic paper trail of evidence, which proves effective action has been taken to eradicate the raised issue.
Services offered include:
- Flushing of little used outlets
- Water system temperature monitoring
- Shower & spray outlet de-scaling/disinfection
- Inspection and maintenance of storage tanks, cylinders and vessels
- Servicing of TMVs (thermostatic mixing valves)
- Water sampling and result analysis through UKAS accredited laboratories
AIR Hygiene
Our multi-skilled consultants can fulfil all your indoor air quality consultancy requirements. Equipped with state of the art equipment and trained to the latest standard you can rest assured that control of air quality is in safe hands.
Independent expert regular assessment of air quality shows your employees that you really do care for their well-being, enables trend analysis, and verifies value for money is being obtained from your investment in maintaining your ventilation systems.
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Assessment
An IAQ Assessment begins with measurement of the most emotive criteria of circulating air temperature and relative humidity to provide reassurance that best practice guidelines are being met, because you can’t please everyone all of the time when it comes to air temperature. This will help you resolve concerns or enable you to proactively manage the difficulties that frequently arise in offices when occupants have very different comfort criteria.
Measurement of particulates, gas levels and airborne microorganisms can demonstrate indoor air quality is safe and compliant with the requirement of the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations or provide an action plan to achieve improvement. Regardless of the findings the workforce will know their best interests are being protected.
Ventilation Hygiene assessment
Are you getting a return on investment for all the resource you put into to ventilating the building? A ventilation hygiene assessment will identify the benefit of maintenance regimes and either provide reassurance that microorganisms are not being spread around the system or identify where remedial actions are required.
Our ventilation assessments look at the air outside the building as a benchmark to be beaten and follows the flow of air into the building and through the ventilation system to the point of supply.
The Complete Package
Couple a Ventilation System Assessment with an IAQ assessment and you have a powerful tool to verify the quality of ventilation system maintenance and the conditions it provides.
