Maintenance plays a vital role in preventing the spread of Legionella bacteria. A CMMS system can help you make sure the work is up to date, says Valuekeep’s Madalena Trincão
In a time where everyone is focused on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, we cannot reduce care in controlling other diseases and bacterial outbreaks that can also be lethal to humans. One such outbreak can be caused by Legionella bacteria, which frequently increase due to a lack of preventive maintenance of certain equipment. Because of Covid-19, many businesses temporarily closed their doors and, in some instances, some of the preventive work also came to a halt.
Legionella is a public health problem and is responsible for Legionnaires’ Disease, a type of pneumonia that is contracted by the inhalation of contaminated water vapour droplets (aerosols).
The bacterium is present in aquatic environments: for example, in domestic water systems, swimming pools, or, in nature, in rivers and lakes. It naturally appears in cooling towers of manufacturing plants, humidifiers, air conditioners, and water supply and distribution systems, but it only reaches potentially dangerous concentrations if there are failures in equipment maintenance. The main systems and equipment associated with the growth of Legionella bacteria are:
• Cooling systems
• Hot and cold water networks in buildings
• Heated water systems for recreational or therapeutic use
• Heated pools and hot tubs
• Thermal installations
• Equipment used in respiratory therapy (nebulisers and humidifiers of assisted ventilation systems).
For an outbreak of this bacterium to occur, it is necessary for there to be some failure in the maintenance of this equipment. For instance, in air conditioning, lack of maintenance can lead to air contamination caused by the aggregation of bacteria and harmful substances in the filters.
To decrease the proliferation of Legionella, specific preventive maintenance and operational control measures should be taken. Maintenance programmes should be drawn up that are appropriate to the characteristics of the facilities and equipment. Such control and prevention measures as well as maintenance, cleaning, and disinfection of systems and equipment are effective solutions to prevent the spread of Legionella.
To help teams increase their efficiency in the fight against the bacterium, a CMMS (computerised maintenance management system) can help with the planning of all the preventive maintenance and coordinate all the teams in the field.
One example is Valuekeep, which can support teams by using an intelligent approach to the way maintenance of buildings and equipment is handled. Valuekeep is a cloud CMMS software, which includes a mobile app, to help teams accessing all the preventive maintenance tasks on the go, making it easier to access and register information during audits or maintenance work.
Maintenance and contingency plans are sometimes not drawn up with the necessary accuracy for the type of equipment, which can inevitably cause outbreaks of Legionella. Maintenance protocols must be based on full knowledge of the whole system and equipment, covering regular inspections, a water control and treatment programme, and a cleaning and disinfection programme for all the installations. There must be a register for each of these operations. All maintenance and cleaning operations must be recorded in a maintenance management document or platform. A CMMS system can make sure all this is systematically logged and up to date, as well as visible to any member of the team.
Another critical aspect is monitoring of the facilities. It is indispensable to monitor chlorine levels, the pH of the water, and temperature. Using Valuekeep, users can register and control those levels in the system, and include other metrics such as temperature or pressure levels, directly from a mobile device in real time. In this way, it is possible to predict when the bacteria may start to contaminate.
The role of maintenance in preventing the proliferation of Legionella bacteria in buildings and equipment is undeniable. The use of a CMMS can simplify a complex task and because the status of all equipment and the maintenance tasks that have been undertaken are logged in the cloud, can provide assurance that your organisation has carried out all it needs to do to prevent an outbreak.
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