FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Public Sector Building and PL/EL Insurance May Not Payout

21st May, 2009

Many insurance providers include clauses in policies that require the insured to maintain current Health and Safety standards within their buildings.

If ventilation and heating systems are not cleaned regularly, or do not have proper access for cleaning, then in the aftermath of a duct fire the buildings insurance policy could be void. The same situation could apply if proper procedures are not in place to control the risk of legionella within the water systems, in this case the public and employers’ liability insurance may be retracted should a public authority owned water system be implicated in a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak.

In the case of ductwork, this means they must be thoroughly and regularly cleaned to reduce the risk of fire being spread by, for example, grease accumulating in extract systems, as happened in 2008 in Glasgow.

However, getting proper access to carry out cleaning can be a headache. In many installed systems, there is a lack of proper access doors. In most cases, after assessment, the hygiene contractor needs to install proper access to the heating and ventilation systems.

Proper procedures to control the risk of legionella include identifying and assessing sources of risk, preparing a scheme for preventing or controlling the risk, implementing, managing and monitoring the precautions, keeping records of the precautions, and appointing a person to be managerially responsible. Public Sector building managers should ensure that they use competent hygiene maintenance firms for ductwork fire risk cleaning and legionella control, which are able to provide proper evidence of their skills and give the user proof that the essential health and safety work has been carried out both in line with regulations and industry recognised good practice.

The Heating and Ventilating Contractors’ Association (HVCA) provides a Guide to Good Practice (TR/19) Internal Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems. This should be used as a basis for any on-going maintenance programme to reduce health and fire risk.

The Health and Safety Commission provide an Approved Code of Practice & Guidance document (L8) which gives detailed advice in the control of legionella in water systems.

Swiftclean is a leading specialist heating and ventilation hygiene and legionella control contractor working with the NHS, Housing Trusts and other public sector bodies, their ability to link the two service disciplines typically demonstrates exceptional value to public sector procurement departments. They can be contacted on 0800 243 471. Their website is www.swiftclean.co.uk.

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