Guide to legionella control in cooling water systems, including cooling towers
View and/or print the Guide to legionella control in cooling water systems, including cool towers (PDF, 180 KB)
About the guide
The guide is for owners or persons in control of cooling water system components, water treatment service providers, chiller service providers, designers and installers of cooling water systems to assist in complying with the associated obligations under the Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 (PDF, 766 KB), and in managing the risks from micro-organisms such as Legionella bacteria in the components of the cooling water system.
The guide addresses:
- Workplace health and safety legislation - obligations of designers, owners, and persons in control of cooling water systems
- Registration of cooling towers
- Controlling the risk of microbial growth
- Management of risk factors during the design, installation, and commissioning of cooling water systems
- Management of risk factors during operation and maintenance of cooling water systems
- Quality of makeup water to the cooling water system
- Maintenance and servicing of cooling water system by a competent person
- Water treatment program for the cooling water system
- Routine servicing and inspection of a cooling tower
- Routine servicing and inspection of a chiller system
- Routine cooling tower cleaning procedure
- Emergency disinfection and decontamination of the cooling water system
- Heterotrophic colony count testing and Legionella testing
- Heterotrophic colony count
- Legionella testing
- Inspection of cooling water system by an on-site person
- Access to and egress from an area containing a cooling tower
- Drift control
- Chemical safety
- Documentation and reporting
- Cooling water system service reports
- Cleaning, disinfection, and decontamination reports
- Availability of records and reports
- Responsibilities of water treatment service providers (WTSP)
- Evaluation of cooling water system maintenance program
- Occupational health and safety for water treatment service providers
- Risk management of bleed water reuse
- Examples of key performance indicators and targets for cooling tower water
- Sample procedure for cleaning cooling towers and related equipment
- Bacterial Sampling and Testing Methods
- Control strategies for presence of Legionella and other heterotrophic micro-organisms
- Emergency disinfection and decontamination procedures
- Legionella and Legionnaires’ disease
- Further information on occupational health and safety for water treatment service providers
- Requirement to report legionellosis, and the role of Queensland Health and Workplace Health and Safety Queensland
- Risk management and water quality standard for the reuse of bleed/blowdown water from cooling towers
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