IHEEM AE CONFERENCE 2019
water system ‘to try to pick up issues that risk assessments should have picked up, but sometimes haven’t’. He added: “It is to all intents a review of the risk assessment as a result of evidence that the control scheme is not effective.” Such investigations would often uncover particular faults – such as poor temperature control, inadequate hot water circulation, poor flow rates, TMV faults, previously unidentified deadlegs, infrequent use, and ‘hidden components’ such as flexible hoses. “I don’t know how many times I have been told there are no flexible hoses by a client organisation,” Philip Lonsdale said, “only to remove an IPS panel and – lo and behold – discover them.
Speak to local staff
“Sometimes,” he continued, “just speaking to the local staff raises questions about system performance – for example, a chat to the cleaner can tell you how often an outlet has been used, or that the water temperature never gets above 25˚C. In these troublesome instances the experience of the Authorising Engineer, combined with the Authorised Person’s site knowledge, are a powerful force, but even then, it is often the plumber, the Competent Person, or the cleaner, that holds the key to uncovering the fault.” While sometimes ‘tension’ or mistrust between trade staff and their manager could be apparent, Philip Lonsdale said that as an AE, it could help ‘not to take sides’, and, in a manner of speaking, to ‘befriend everyone, but perhaps trust no one’. “Often,” he added, “AEs come up against poor communication within client organisations.” He said: “Water safety has historically been seen as a management of
Philip Lonsdale of the Water Hygiene Centre said AEs needed to ‘engage with as many stakeholders as possible through the Water Safety Group and other opportunities’.
Legionella, and as an ‘Estates’ issue, but more recent developments have seen the onus shift towards the end-user and the care of patients; partly due to concerns around Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the way that that bacterium proliferates, but also due to an increased awareness of the causes of Legionella, which places further emphasis on the regular use of outlets as a preventative measure.”
Regular and positive representation The speaker’s experience was that those Trusts with regular and positive representation from a full range of stakeholders tended to be more successful in managing their water system
safety. Such stakeholders, he said, should include representatives from Infection Prevention and Control – who were responsible for spreading the message and enforcement, including
communication ‘across the modern mixed management estate’, the consultant microbiologist – who ‘provides credibility and authority’; ‘soft FM’ – for cleaning standards and training, and Capital Projects – ‘for low-risk designs – consideration of potential issues at the design stage and before work begins’, and ‘good management during the construction and commissioning phases’. While a good AE would always look to help the client organisation, Philip Lonsdale said that sometimes it might be necessary to ‘lock horns’. He explained: “This can happen in a variety of ways, and in the following slides I’ll give some examples.” He continued: “Sometimes it’s necessary for an AE to tell clients some home truths about the performance or service – for example when records are not good enough, or a candidate might not be suitable for the position of Authorised Person, or perhaps the Designated Person is ignoring, or playing down the risks, or not communicating to the Board.”
Bearing bad news
He continued: “We might in some instances need to issue a Letter of Caution, and of course an AE can be the bearer of bad news in other ways – a poor audit report, sample results showing colonisation, a system beyond repair, missing records, or the need for costly remedial actions. In extreme circumstances,” he added, “an AE may be called on to be a ‘whistle-blower’; indeed
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