How should assessment dates be recorded in a Legionella risk assessment schedule?

Assessment dates should be recorded in a controlled, chronological schedule that links each assessment to the relevant premises, water system and supporting report. The record should make it possible to establish what was assessed, which version is current and how the assessment history has developed over time.

Use one consistent date format throughout the schedule. Writing the month in full, such as 12 October 2026, avoids confusion between day-month and month-day formats. If an electronic system uses a numerical format, the organisation should define that format clearly and apply it to every entry. Dates should not be left as informal descriptions such as “last month” or “due shortly”.

A well-structured entry commonly includes separate fields for:

• the premises or site reference;
• the area, building or water system covered;
• the date of the site inspection or assessment activity;
• the date the assessor approved or signed the assessment;
• the date the report was issued or entered into the management system;
• the planned date for the next review; and
• the document reference, version number or storage location for the full assessment.

Separating these fields prevents an administrative date from being mistaken for the date on which the system was actually examined. For example, a report may be issued after the site visit, while a schedule may be updated later still. Each date serves a different audit purpose and should not be used as a substitute for another.

The schedule should also show the status of each entry. Useful labels include planned, completed, under review, superseded and overdue. A planned entry should not be presented as evidence that an assessment has taken place. Once the work is completed, the status can be updated alongside the relevant report reference and approval record.

Where an assessment date changes, retain the original planned date rather than deleting it. Record the amended date, the person who authorised the change and a concise explanation. This preserves the audit trail and helps distinguish a properly managed change from an unexplained gap in the assessment history. If a date is brought forward, the schedule should show the resulting review cycle clearly so that the next planned activity is not calculated from an obsolete entry.

Dates should be supported by evidence that can be retrieved readily. Depending on the organisation's arrangements, this may include the signed assessment, a digital approval record, site attendance information, photographs, meeting records or correspondence confirming a change. The schedule itself is an index and monitoring tool; it should point to the underlying evidence rather than contain unsupported dates.

For multi-building premises, record dates at the level at which the assessment was undertaken. A single site-level date may be misleading where separate buildings, water systems or risk profiles were assessed at different times. The schedule should either contain separate entries or clearly identify the scope covered by one assessment.

Review the schedule as part of routine water safety governance. Check that completed entries have supporting documents, planned entries remain appropriate, superseded assessments are retained for traceability and no date has been altered without an explanation. Where records are held electronically, access controls and version history can help protect the integrity of the information. Paper schedules should be amended legibly, with dated initials or another reliable record of the amendment.