HSG 282 – Spa Pool testing guidance released
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) have released some new Health and Safety Guidance for Spa Pools. The new Spa Pool Guidance is entitled Health & Safety Guidance 282 (HSG 282). Spa pool systems are a recognised source of diseases caused by infectious agents including the organism that causes legionnaires’ disease, primarily Legionella pneumophila.
The Spa Pool Guidance works in unison with the Approved Code of Practice for Legionella (ACoP L8) and has been introduced to help spa pool owners and users. The HSG 282 document provides guidance on operating and maintaining commercial-type systems. Additionally, there is specific guidance for domestic spa pools / hot tubs that are used as part of a business activity.
Click here to download the HSG 282 Spa Pool Guidance
There have been a number of Legionella outbreaks linked to spa pools in leisure centres, hotels, holiday homes, on cruise ships and on display. The main risk from spa pool and hot tubs comes from the fact the water is heated, usually between 30–40 °C, the optimum temperature for bacteria such as Legionella to grow and thrive. Furthermore, these systems have the ability to produce aerosols by means of air jets or similar devices, this is a particular concern for Legionella bacteria which water droplets to be dispersed by aerosols to infect humans.
Other pathogens of concern which customers may wish to consider when reviewing the microbial content of spa pool and hot tubs include:
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- Total Viable Count (TVC)
- Coliforms
- Mycobacteria
- Enterococci
- Cryptosporidium & Giardia
- E-coli
- ESKAPE Pathogens
ALS Environmental, who recently completed the purchase of ALcontrol’s UK laboratories, are able to offer customers a full genus and species identification of all culture based microbiology testing using the award winning MALDI-ToF confirmation technique. This approach removes the need for the presumptive stage of microbiology and allows ALS to utilise one of the worlds largest bacteriological databases to provide a full speciation in over 99% of environmental samples.
For more information on our Legionella testing services, including MALDI-ToF confirmation, national service provision or for any other analytical enquiry, please request a quote, contact us or call us on 02476 421 213.
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We had potential water quality problem due to the actions of a third party and needed samples taken as a matter of urgency. Although this was outside the strict terms of our contract with ALS they were able to provide a sampler on a Friday afternoon, get the samples taken and returned to their labs for analysis.
They backed this excellent performance up by emailing us the sample results over the weekend. All in all a great piece of customer service!
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