Who is responsible for meeting L8 requirements?

Responsibility for meeting L8 requirements belongs to whoever has control of premises, a water system or how that system is operated. This is commonly described as the dutyholder or responsible person. Depending on the arrangements in place, that may be an employer, building owner, landlord, occupier, facilities manager, managing agent or another organisation with operational control.

The Approved Code of Practice L8 is not, by itself, a separate Act of Parliament. It supports compliance with wider health and safety duties, including the requirement to identify and control risks from exposure to legionella bacteria. L8 sets out an accepted approach for managing those risks. An organisation that chooses a different approach should be able to demonstrate that it provides an equivalent level of control and is supported by suitable evidence.

Where more than one organisation has control or influence over a building or water system, responsibility may be shared. For example, a property owner may control the infrastructure, an occupier may control day-to-day use, and a facilities management company may operate the water services. Each party should understand its specific duties, with responsibilities documented clearly rather than assumed to sit entirely with another organisation.

The dutyholder’s responsibilities generally include:

• identifying water systems and uses that could present a legionella risk;
• ensuring a suitable legionella risk assessment is completed by a competent person;
• appointing people with appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to manage the risk;
• putting suitable control measures into operation and ensuring they remain effective;
• providing information, instruction and training to people who carry out relevant tasks;
• arranging monitoring, inspection, sampling or other checks where the risk assessment requires them;
• keeping appropriate records of assessments, monitoring, remedial work and reviews; and
• taking action when control limits are missed, equipment is defective or circumstances change.

Legal responsibility cannot normally be transferred simply by appointing a specialist contractor. A contractor may carry out risk assessments, sampling, monitoring, cleaning or remedial work, but the organisation in control must select a suitably competent provider, define the scope of work, provide relevant system information and check that the agreed work has been completed properly. It must also act on significant findings rather than treating a contractor’s report as the end of its own responsibility.

Competence is central to the L8 approach. The person managing legionella control does not necessarily need to perform every technical task personally, but must understand the system sufficiently to make informed decisions and obtain appropriate specialist assistance. Contractors and consultants should have the competence required for the particular system, task and level of risk. A basic domestic water arrangement and a complex healthcare, industrial or commercial system may require very different knowledge and controls.

Employers have additional responsibilities towards employees and others who may be affected by their activities. Landlords and property managers also need to consider how tenants, visitors, maintenance workers and other users could be exposed. Contractual arrangements can allocate practical tasks, but they do not automatically remove statutory duties from the parties that retain control of the premises or water system.

Senior management should ensure that responsibility is formally assigned, adequately resourced and reviewed. A written allocation of duties should identify who controls each relevant system, who receives reports, who authorises corrective action and who acts when the usual responsible person is unavailable. This is particularly important where buildings are leased, managed by a third party or occupied by several organisations.

Responsibility should also be reconsidered when a building changes use, occupancy levels alter, water systems are modified, control equipment is replaced, management arrangements change or an incident occurs. Regular review helps confirm that the named dutyholders, risk assessment, written control arrangements and operational records still reflect the system as it actually exists.