Building types5 min read
Garden hoses and water butts: the home Legionella risk
Is a garden hose or a water butt really a Legionella risk at home? What is myth, what is real, and the few seasonal habits that keep the danger low.
Legionella control, done properly.
A working UK reference on risk assessment, temperature, monitoring and the law. Written for the people who carry the duty, not for search engines.
356 in-depth articles across 10 topics, every claim tied to HSE, NHS, CDC, UKHSA or BSI guidance.
New to the duty? Start here.
- 01What is Legionella? An introduction to the bacteria and disease
Legionella only becomes your problem when warm water sits still and then gets breathed in — understand those two conditions and the whole subject gets simpler.
- 02UK Legionella compliance 101: laws and responsibilities
There is no single Legionella law; the duties come from general health and safety law and land on whoever controls the building, so the real question is who is accountable and what proves control.
- 03Legionella risk assessment basics: what it is and why you need it
A Legionella risk assessment is a decision document, not a certificate; its job is to rank what could grow, who is exposed, and what to fix first.
- 04Temperature control basics for Legionella prevention
Look past single readings and judge whether the whole water system can hold control.
- 05Routine monitoring and flushing: the basics
Flushing and monitoring are the two day-to-day halves of Legionella control; do them as a managed routine, not a tick-box, and you cover most of the everyday risk.
- 06Legionella logbooks: an introduction to record keeping
A logbook's only job is to turn the work you did into proof you can hand to an auditor, an inspector, or whoever inherits the building - and the proof lives in the exceptions, not the green ticks.
Browse by topic
Basics & science44How the bacterium actually behaves (growth, biofilm, aerosols and the disease), translated into decisions you can make on site.Law & compliance47What the law expects of a duty holder: ACoP L8, HSG274, the standards behind them, and where responsibility really sits.Risk assessment35Doing, reading and acting on a risk assessment that reflects your building rather than a template.Temperature control29The primary control. Keeping hot water hot and cold water cold across a real distribution system, and proving it.Monitoring & sampling34The routine work that generates evidence: temperature checks, flushing low-use outlets, and sampling done properly.Record keeping33Records that survive an inspection: what to capture, how long to keep it, and going paper-to-digital well.Technology27Sensors, remote monitoring, analytics and automation: where they earn their place and where they do not.Building types44Hotels, schools, healthcare, care homes, offices and more. The same duties, very different buildings.Failures & enforcement27How control programmes fail in practice, what enforcement looks like, and the costs of getting it wrong.Best practice36Moving past minimum compliance: water safety plans, culture, audits and where the field is heading.
Guidance for your building
The duties are the same; the buildings are not.
Quick references
Things to use and download, not just read.
From the team behind Legionella.io
When you are ready to run it, not just read about it
Legionella.io is published by REMOTE TECH LTD, who also build L8log, the software duty holders use to put this guidance into practice.
Risk Assessment app
Build and update site risk assessments, then track every remedial action through to close-out.
Remote monitoring
Wireless temperature sensors and live dashboards that flag drift before it becomes a failure.
Digital Logbook
Every temperature, flush and sample logged, time-stamped and ready for an inspector.
Recent additions
Basics & science6 min read
Legionnaires' disease treatment and diagnosis: what to expect
How Legionnaires' disease is diagnosed and treated - the urine test, antibiotics, hospital care and recovery - and why a confirmed case matters to a building.
Building types7 min read
Legionella risk in gym and leisure-centre showers
Changing-room showers, not the pool, are where Legionella reaches lungs in a leisure centre. The control routine for banks of heads with lumpy, seasonal use.
Basics & science6 min read
Legionella and compost: the longbeachae risk for gardeners
Legionella longbeachae lives in compost and growing media, not your water system. How gardeners breathe it in from dust, and the simple precautions that help.
Basics & science7 min read
Pontiac fever: symptoms, recovery and how it differs from Legionnaires' disease
Pontiac fever is the mild form of legionellosis: a short flu-like illness, no pneumonia, that clears on its own. When it still needs a doctor.
Monitoring & sampling9 min read
Outside taps, hose union taps and garden hoses: the outdoor Legionella risk
Outside taps are dead legs and a hose left in the sun is a Legionella incubator. How to flush taps, drain hoses, and clear warm water before spraying.