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COMMENT


Key fire and water safety advice from leading experts


Two of the key concerns always front of mind for healthcare engineers are maintaining their healthcare facility’s water system in a safe, compliant, and as pathogen-free a condition as possible, and ensuring that fire safety provision is such that in the event of fire, a well-rehearsed evacuation plan can be deployed, and compartmentation and fire doors are sufficiently robust to help minimise fire spread. This issue of HEJ includes articles on both topics – with a


report on an interesting debate at The Infection Prevention Society’s 2024 conference on the potential benefits of removing sinks from some patient-facing areas, given what we now know about the risks of contamination from water outlets and wastewater (pages 37-40). At the conference, highly experienced microbiologist, Dr. Michael Weinbren, a Specialist Advisor in Microbiology to the New Hospital Programme, gave an insight into some of the outbreaks found to have originated from hospital water / wastewater systems – including in new-builds and, alluding to guidance that suggests ‘six-monthly water testing for Pseudomonas’, warned that the bacteria can appear between testing regimes, and that ‘blindly’ following this guidance could thus lead to ‘a failure to identify and act rapidly on any emerging threats’.


He also mentioned a solution developed to address the risks associated with shower drains – a removable and autoclavable shower insert, designed to prevent patients


Cover Story


LegionellaDossier: Smarter, Safer Water Management for Healthcare


Ensuring safe water systems in healthcare facilities is critical to protecting patients, staff, and visitors, against Legionella risks. However, traditional risk management is often ‘time-consuming, fragmented, and reliant on outdated processes’, claims LegionellaDossier. Recognising this challenge, Gert Oussoren founded LegionellaDossier in 2016 ‘to revolutionise water safety compliance’. The company explained: “Originally a university project automating temperature measurements, it has since grown into a leading digital solution that helps Facilities managers, Compliance officers, and service-providers, streamline water safety management. “For healthcare estates teams, Legionella risk assessments are just the start. The challenge is ensuring that risks translate into clear, trackable actions to maintain compliance and prevent outbreaks. LegionellaDossier connects assessments to real-time compliance tasks, ensuring: n Automated tracking of flushing regimes, temperature monitoring, and remedial actions.


April 2025 | Volume 79 | Issue 04


n Seamless reporting, aligned with HTM 04-01 and L8 guidelines.


n Full oversight, with a digital platform that eliminates delays and errors.


Carbon saving at Oxford


hospitals see page 23


discussed see page 37


“By shifting compliance from reactive to proactive, NHS Trusts, private hospitals, and healthcare estates teams, gain control over their water safety responsibilities.” LegionellaDossier reportedly simplifies this by:


n Replacing paper records with digital logbooks. n Integrating IoT sensors for real-time water system monitoring.


n Providing actionable insights through smart dashboards.


LegionellaDossier streamlines compliance by allowing teams to complete tasks directly on site. “LegionellaDossier replaced our paper-based records, giving us real insights and enabling evidence-based decisions,” explained John O’Riordan, head of Building and Estates at the Royal College of Surgeons of England. “We can now track minor issues before they become systemic failures, improving oversight and compliance. As a standards organisation, having this level of data-driven decision- making is invaluable.” LegionellaDossier is described as


‘a blueprint for smarter, safer water management’.


Infection risks from sinks


Key fire safety guidance


revised see page 43


Read more about LegionellaDossier at legionelladossier.com or contact them at hello@legionelladossier.com


April 2025 Health Estate Journal 5


Gert Oussoren – Founder and CRO, LegionellaDossier.


having direct contact with wastewater, but warned that the sector ‘needs to think about the design of showers in the future’.


On the healthcare fire safety front, Maz Daoud, the head


of Fire Safety, NHS Estates, NHS England – Commercial Directorate, discusses ‘what’s new’ in the revised HTM 05-03 Part K, and how this applies in practice (pages 43-46). He stresses that primary fire risk assessment (FRA) is now required for the whole of a building, including common areas; this also includes ‘building management arrangements’ – such as the fire strategy, fire alarm system, external wall system, and compartmentation. With ongoing concerns over


the competence of some fire risk assessors, the guidance stipulates that ‘whatever the appointment status of the fire risk assessor, a robust process of due diligence should be employed to ensure that the FRA holds an adequate level of competence, to the satisfaction of the responsible person’. Both articles should be essential reading – especially given the level of experience and expertise both authors possess in their respective fields.


Jonathan Baillie, Editor


jonathanbaillie@ stepcomms.com


With concerns over the competence of some fire risk assessors, the guidance stipulates that ‘whatever the appointment status of the fire risk assessor, a robust process of due diligence should be employed’


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