The Health and Safety Authority advises that premises that are at risk of contamination with Legionella should have a management plan in place to deal with the associated risk. Typical premises include hotels, leisure centres, nursing homes, spa’s, hydrotherapy pools, shopping centres etc. These places have areas such as water sitting in pipelines for an extended period of time and when these are not used for a prolonged period of time, conditions develop which are suitable for Legionella to thrive.

It is important that an initial risk assessment is carried out determine the potential likelihood of Legionella developing. This would identify the number of water outlets, the typical temperatures, the sampling periods, the sampling methodology etc. All data relating to the individual premises including any disinfection carried out and test results would be kept on site in a designated folder.