Take Care of Your Employees

Every business owner is morally responsible for the health of his employees when they are on his premises. In many places he is also the legally responsible for their well being. As a business owner it is your responsibility to ensure that there is nothing left undone when it comes to clearing your premises of any health hazards. Your water supply is an important aspect to look into. Science may not have developed to the extent of completely finding and eliminating the presence of legionella, but it can definitely reduce the chances of illness from it.

Legionella is a form of bacteria often found in water. While one can ingest it in small doses, anything larger, over a sustained period of time can result in a potentially fatal disease called Legionnaire’s. As a bacterium it has to be completely eliminated from the water supply to your office. What you can do to prevent this is have your organization undergo a legionella risk assessment. With this assessment you will know how much of a risk it poses to you and how you can eliminate it.

You need to make sure that your assessment is in keeping with the legally accepted standards in your state and therefore you will need to hire a professional who is well versed in this evaluation. Finding a person who may be authorized by a governing health body would be a good idea. There are several recognized organizations that can give you good recommendations on professionals.

A quick online research will help you find the professional you are looking for. You could also get in touch with local businesses to see whom they may have contacted for their own organization. Such assessments are often done when there is a holiday on or with a fewer number of people in the building.

If you as a business owner refuse to go with such an assessment do understand that all liability will be squarely on you, if one of your employees contract the illness. In order for you to maintain a good working environment for your employees it would be good if you could give them the safest of basic needs in the form of clean water.

Find out how you can ensure the assessment does not affect the functioning of your office. Once the assessment is done, it would be a good idea to repeat the test once every year. Legionella can slip in at any time and you will want to keep an eye.