Plan to keep deadly legionella bacteria out of Falkirk Council water underway

dailyrecord.co.uk:

An action plan to keep the deadly legionella bacteria out of public water in Falkirk Council buildings is now underway, following an audit that described procedures as "unacceptable".

Falkirk Council's audit committee heard yesterday (Monday) that a dedicated legionella officer has now been appointed who will be part of a team to oversee property management that is now being recruited.

A working group has been overseeing the action plan which includes making all council premises managers more aware of their responsibilities. Read more: Staff absences costing Falkirk Council £25k a day as £11 million bill revealed. A training programme will be delivered to staff and then kept up-to-date by the legionella officer.The council had previously experienced major problems reopening schools and nurseries after legionella - which can lead to Legionnaire's disease - was found in them after lockdown closures.Last year, an internal audit found serious shortcomings in procedures for a sample of five properties in Falkirk, leaving the service with a "no assurance" rating.It flagged:The leader of the council, Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, said she was keen to make sure there would be "lessons learned" from the situation to make sure that there was a more robust approach in future.The latest report to councillors said that one of the problems was "limited buy-in" from premises staff and Councillor Anne Hannah asked how that was being addressed. "Like Councillor Meiklejohn, I am concerned about the future," she said.Head of Invest Falkirk, Paul Kettrick, said that training is being rolled out from April and an updated handbook has already been issued to all premises managers to make them aware of their responsibilities.He added: "Whilst