Water safety in buildings - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

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Designs need to take into account requirements associated with specific uses, such as: • residential health care • hospitals • dental surgeries • medical surgeries • renal dialysis clinics • schools • food retailers • hotels and guest accommodation (including specialist accommodation such as ski stations). In the case of renovation or modification of existing and occupied facilities, architects should consult with users of the building. The extent of consultation will be influenced by the complexity of the project; however, it should include all those involved in management and maintenance of water systems. In the case of hospitals and health-care facilities, it should involve consultation with infection-control specialists. 3.2.4 Engineers Design engineers are responsible for translating the architectural plans into building designs, taking into account structural integrity and ensuring compliance with building and plumbing standards. Project and construction engineers are responsible for completion of buildings, including installation of water systems. When buildings are being renovated, or existing structures are being modified, engineers provide a key role in establishing risk-management plans to minimize risks to people currently using the building. These risk-management plans should include instructions on how to deal with potential problems and disruptions to services, and they should ensure that technical standards and regulations are met. Risk-management plans should include education of maintenance and construction workers. Project engineers are typically responsible for final certification of satisfactory completion of building construction. 3.2.5 Plumbers Protection of water quality and proper operation of water systems rely on plumbers. Plumbers should be appropriately qualified and have the competence and knowledge to design, install and maintain plumbing systems. Plumbers play a key role in managing risks by ensuring compliance with applicable standards and codes. In addition, plumbers and other plumbing professionals can play an important role in water conservation. Well-designed plumbing systems are necessary to ensure that the installations are efficient, safe and appropriate for the different circumstances they serve. The design of a good plumbing service must be based on an understanding of the technical requirements and relevant regulatory restrictions. Where industry-based risk-management strategies and procedures have been established, they should be applied. Plumbers have to ensure that water systems are intact and that intrusion of microbial and chemical contaminants is minimized. Unintended or unprotected cross-connections 3 Roles and responsibilities 19
should be prevented, and backflow-prevention devices should be installed where necessary. Only approved materials and devices should be used or installed. Plumbing systems have to comply with building plans. All work has to be documented, and installations and modifications need to be included within building plans. 3.2.6 Manufacturers and suppliers Anyone involved in the manufacture and supply of water systems components, and specialized equipment and devices (e.g. cooling towers, washing machines, water-using medical devices) should ensure that they are designed and constructed so that they are safe when used for their designated purpose. Components and devices should be designed, constructed and installed in compliance with existing codes and design standards. Systems need to be constructed from materials that are appropriate for the function of the water system and device. In addition, systems should be designed to enable ease of operation, cleaning, inspection and maintenance. Training should be provided to people who operate devices, where appropriate. 3.3 Building operators Building operation and management can be undertaken by a range of different stakeholders, with specific responsibilities influenced by ownership and tenancy agreements. Legislative requirements may also assign responsibilities to specific parties. Requirements will generally include responsibilities relating to protecting the health and safety of residents and users of buildings. Employers have a specific duty to protect the health and safety of employees. Building operation can be the responsibility of a building owner, leasing agency, building manager, tenants, employers or combinations of these parties. In some cases, building owners maintain control over infrastructure including water systems, but in other cases this task might be undertaken by a leasing or building management agency. Alternatively, occupiers and tenants may install and manage water devices. Regulations and codes of practice often identify responsibilities for a number of parties. For example, the Victorian Government (in Australia) has published Legionnaires’ disease: managing the health risk associated with cooling tower and warm water systems (the Health Legionella Regulations) (Vic DHS, 2001), which identifies responsibilities for: • owners of land to register certain types of water devices and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that a risk-management plan is prepared, reviewed and audited on an annual basis; • owners or tenants of buildings to prevent conditions that may represent a risk to public health; • owners, managers or controllers of water devices to undertake appropriate levels of maintenance; • employers to maintain a safe workplace. In other jurisdictions, assignment of responsibilities may be different, but the tasks remain generally consistent. The tasks and individual responsibilities should be described in a WSP. Whoever takes the lead role in building management needs to be responsible 20 Water safety in buildings
Page 1 and 2: Water safety in buildings Edited by
Page 3 and 4: WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publicat
Page 5 and 6: 3 Roles and responsibilities ......
Page 7 and 8: 5 Supporting environment ..........
Page 9 and 10: Box 4.8 Legionella hazard due to un
Page 11 and 12: then in December 2005 (by the WHO C
Page 13 and 14: Martin EXNER, Institute for Hygiene
Page 16: Abbreviations and acronyms GDWQ Wor
Page 19 and 20: hotels have often received extensiv
Page 22 and 23: 2 What are the issues This section
Page 24 and 25: 2.2 System design The basic require
Page 26 and 27: 2.4 People who use buildings Buildi
Page 28 and 29: 2.5 Building types Buildings can in
Page 30 and 31: hospitals use private water supplie
Page 32: At large sporting clubs, immersion
Page 35: 3.2 Building commissioners A range
Page 39 and 40: In other cases, levels of service o
Page 41 and 42: • Physicians are responsible for
Page 43 and 44: Administration of occupational heal
Page 45 and 46: Step 1: Terms of reference Step 2:
Page 47 and 48: Step 1: Design strategic frameworks
Page 49 and 50: Figure 4.1 provides an overview of
Page 51 and 52: specific water uses. An accurate de
Page 53 and 54: 4.4.3 Understanding and documenting
Page 55 and 56: 2 Possible building-specific source
Page 57 and 58: 4 Devices for heating and supplying
Page 59 and 60: Existence of standards and regulati
Page 61 and 62: Chemicals used in water-using devic
Page 63 and 64: Box 4.5 Water quality at rural Sout
Page 65 and 66: • inadequate monitoring and poor
Page 67 and 68: Factors associated with biofilm for
Page 69 and 70: welding, interconnection of differe
Page 71 and 72: Risk assessments can be applied at
Page 73 and 74: For some hazards, it may be possibl
Page 75 and 76: Box 4.9 Example of a risk assessmen
Page 77 and 78: are connected to drinking-water sys
Page 79 and 80: can be found in Guidelines for safe
Page 81 and 82: WSPs should incorporate a monitorin
Page 83 and 84: 4.10.2 Ingress of contamination fro
Page 85 and 86: and made available. These procedure
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4.12 Verification Verification is r
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The case study in Box 4.11 describe
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Table 4.4 Examples of hazards, haza
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emedial actions. Ensuring timely im
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• examining reports of independen
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5.2 Disease surveillance and detect
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from those included in general surv
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5.2.3 Disease surveillance for wate
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5.2.5 Detection of outbreaks Outbre
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5.2.6 Lessons learnt from disease s
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Table 5.1 Management legislation Ar
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Table 5.2 Area of technical regulat
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5.4 Capacity building and training
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• For employees responsible for s
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I Hazard identification, hazard ass
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II Operational monitoring and manag
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Annex 2 Potential biological and ch
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Etiologic agent Bacteria continued
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Etiologic agent Bacteria continued
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Etiologic agent Viruses continued C
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Etiologic agent Protozoa continued
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Glossary Accreditation Actor Aeroso
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Disinfection Disinfection by-produc
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Maintenance Material Monitoring Mul
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Surveillance Thermostatic mixing va
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CDC (Centers for Disease Control an
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Ontario Ministry of the Environment
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WHO (World Health Organization), FA
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Water safety in buildings - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

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