Who can carry out a legionella risk assessment?
The dutyholder must appoint competent help where internal knowledge is insufficient. Competence depends on the water-system type, risk, practical assessment skill and ability to specify workable controls rather than one protected job title.
Check my situationTest system-specific competence
A person assessing a simple mains-fed office does not need the same experience as someone assessing cooling towers, healthcare water systems or spa pools. Ask the provider to connect the named assessor’s training and work history to every system in the brief.
- Request the named assessor’s training, experience and authorisation for the system type.
- Review a redacted report with a schematic, asset list, findings and control scheme.
- Check insurance, quality review, conflicts and laboratory arrangements where sampling is offered.
What to do next: Record provider evidence at appointment and verify any trade-association, certification or laboratory claims with the issuing body. Vendor Atlas reports source evidence but does not certify competence.
Named-person evidence
The provider should identify who will attend, who will review the report and what comparable systems they have assessed. Training alone does not show current practical experience with the premises type.
Ask how competence is checked and maintained, who handles technical escalation and which tasks will be subcontracted.
Assessment method
The proposal should cover system mapping, asset inspection, operating evidence, exposure routes, susceptible people, existing controls, risk evaluation and a usable written control scheme.
- Scope and system boundary
- Schematic and asset register
- Control evidence and measurements
- Prioritised findings
- Review and corrective-action process
Commercial separation
Many providers also sell monitoring, sampling, cleaning, dosing and remedial plumbing. Keep the assessment findings and resulting service proposal as separate lines.
Where the assessor recommends continuing work from the same provider, ask for the evidence, task frequency, acceptance limits and corrective-action rule behind each item.