Legionnaires’ Disease and Preventative Maintenance of your Building’s Water Systems
Shapiro & Duncan, Inc. is sending you a friendly reminder on how important it is to maintain your HVAC equipment, more specifically your cooling tower. Below is some helpful information to help you understand the dangers of Legionnaires’ disease.
In the United States, 8,000 to 18,000 cases of Legionnaires’ disease are reported each year and with more than 10% of those cases are fatal. Within the past few months there have been record breaking reports on how this air born disease has attacked residents in New York. As a building owner, it is your responsibility to make sure your cooling towers are treated properly. Not only is there a cost between dollars and lives, but a cost to the reputation of your organization. There could be legal and liability ramifications for your business, and failure to invest in proper preventative maintenance could become a public relations nightmare.
Below is a short video to help you understand the history, the signs and symptoms, and where the bacteria can be found (hot tubs, cooling towers, hot water tanks, large plumbing systems, or parts of your air conditioning system).
Additionally, now is also the perfect time for owners, contractors, facility operators and engineering firms to become familiar with ANSI/ASHRAE 188-2015, Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems. Requirements include:
Minimum legionellosis risk management requirements for buildings and their associated potable and non-potable water systems.
Establishment by building owners of a Program Team and (in turn) a Water Management Program for which they are responsible in order to comply with the standard.
Provision of specific and detailed requirements for what legionellosis control strategies must accomplish and how they are to be documented — but, does not provide (or place restrictions on) what specific strategies are to be used or applied.
Read more on ANSI/ASHRAE 188-2015 here. Should you have any additional concerns regarding your water treatment, please do not hesitate to contact our customer service department at 301-315-6260 or make a request online.
