Legionella policy
Introduction
At Magna, we’re committed to ensuring the safety of our customers, colleagues and others who work with us.
It’s important for us to manage the risk of legionella. This policy sets out our legionella safety standards and procedures, to make sure we meet all legal and regulatory requirements.
Who this policy applies to and what it covers
This policy applies to:
- All homes, estates, communal buildings and offices that we own and manage.
- All colleagues and anyone else we employ in the design, construction, management and maintenance of our homes.
The policy specifically covers:
- Carrying out legionella risk assessments of homes and communal water systems and any repairs, improvements or maintenance required.
- Carrying out and recording a water safety risk assessment when a home becomes empty, and any repairs carried out before it’s relet.
- Carrying out monthly temperature monitoring and safety checks of water systems in homes with communal supplies and any repairs or maintenance required.
- The design, construction and maintenance of our homes.
- Communication with customers on legionella prevention measures and awareness.
Our Legionella Safety Policy
The safety of our customers, colleagues and contractors is at the heart of what we do. We’re committed to ensuring that our legionella management meets legal and regulatory requirements and achieve our Regulator’s Consumer Standard, as an absolute minimum. We strive to achieve what is considered to be industry best practice.
In delivering this policy, we commit to ensuring that everyone involved in managing legionella safety at Magna demonstrate the appropriate competency levels and, where necessary, third-party accreditation. Contractors appointed by us to carry out safety checks and regular monitoring of communal water systems and associated appliances will be registered with the Legionella Control Association and subscribe to their code of conduct. Contractors should be able to demonstrate competency in all associated health and safety disciplines.
We’re committed to ensuring legionella safety when building our new homes, considering it at the early stages of design, in the construction phase and in the management and maintenance of our homes.
We’ll consult with our customers on legionella related activities, inform them about the outcome of assessments, ensure awareness, provide advice and listen and respond to any safety concerns.
The safety of our customers is paramount. We’ll ensure that resources and funding required to deliver legionella safety works are prioritised, taking into account a risk-based approach to the urgency of the work.
We’ll ensure that performance on legionella activity is regularly scrutinised to ensure continuous improvement and that any lessons learnt are embedded.
Our Legionella Safety Standard and Procedure
We want to make sure that we are really clear about the standards we are working to when it comes to legionella management. We’ve developed a Legionella Safety Standard which defines what we’ll do to promote legionella safety. The standard explains who is responsible for delivering the service and how frequently we’ll carry out specific activities in customers’ homes, communal areas and estates.
The standard is supported by a clear procedure and instructions to ensure that the services are delivered consistently by our colleagues and specialist contractors. The standard and procedure are kept under constant review to ensure they are fit for purpose in a fast-changing environment.
Responsibilities for Legionella Safety Management
The Director of Customer Operations is accountable for all aspects of legionella management at Magna and is responsible for the development and review of the Legionella Safety Policy and Legionella Safety Standard annually, ensuring that these meet all regulatory requirements and guidance.
The Head of Building Safety, Compliance and Home Services is responsible for operational delivery of legionella management activities, maintaining accurate legionella data and for reporting on legionella management in line with governance arrangements. They are also responsible for ensuring that customers are effectively consulted on all aspects of legionella safety in their homes and estates.
All colleagues are responsible for ensuring that the work they carry out meets our policies and standards.
This policy will be considered and approved annually by our Strategic Board.
A range of performance measures and indicators, relating directly to the Legionella Safety Standard, will be agreed and reported to managers and directors as appropriate. High level performance indicators will be reported to Strategic Board on a regular basis.
Our performance on legionella, including lessons learned from incidents will form part of the quarterly report to the Health and Safety Forum and will be included in the annual report to Strategic Board on corporate health and safety.