A legionella logbook is the record of everything you do to keep your water system safe: temperatures, flushing, cleaning, sampling and repairs. If the checks are not written down, you cannot show that they happened. A good logbook takes a few minutes a week.
Why records matter
The Health and Safety Authority asks employers to carry out a written legionella risk assessment, record the findings and review it. Records also let you spot trends, such as a hot water temperature that is slowly falling, before they become a problem.
What to keep in the logbook
- The risk assessment: the current version and the date it was last reviewed.
- The written scheme of control: the list of checks, who does them and how often.
- Responsible people: who is in charge of water safety, and their deputy.
- Temperature checks: date, outlet, hot and cold readings.
- Flushing of little-used outlets: date, location and who did it.
- Shower head cleaning and descaling.
- Tank inspections, cleaning and disinfection.
- Servicing: water heaters, thermostatic mixing valves and other equipment.
- Sampling results and what was done about any positive result.
- Faults and repairs: what went wrong, the action taken and the date it was closed.
- Training: who has been shown how to do the checks.
How to lay it out
- One sheet per task, with columns for date, location, result, initials and action taken.
- Write the target on the sheet, for example “cold below 20°C”, so anyone can see when a reading is out.
- Add a column for what was done about an out-of-range result. A bad reading with no follow-up is worse than no reading.
- Paper or digital both work. Choose the one your team will actually use.
Gaps found most often
- Readings recorded but never acted on.
- The same temperature written every week in the same handwriting.
- Records that stop when one member of staff leaves.
- Contractor certificates kept somewhere else and impossible to find.
- A risk assessment several years old with no review.
How long to keep records
Keep them for several years so that you can show a history of control. Sampling results and risk assessments are worth keeping longest.
Who should check the logbook
The person responsible for water safety should look through it regularly and sign it, so that gaps are picked up within weeks, not at the next annual review.
Safer Solutions reviews your records as part of every legionella risk assessment. Call 086 275 9728, email info@safersolutions.ie or request a quote.