Reopening your food business after the COVID-19 lockdown

Legionella

Legionella bacteria is commonly found in water. The bacteria multiply where temperatures are between 20°C to 45°C and nutrients are available. The bacteria are dormant below 20°C and do not survive above 60°C. Legionnaires’ disease is a potentially fatal type of pneumonia, contracted by inhaling airborne water droplets containing viable Legionella bacteria. Such droplets can be created, for example by hot and cold water outlets (taps).

There are no vaccines that can prevent Legionnaires’ disease. Instead, the key to preventing Legionnaires’ disease is to make sure that building owners and managers maintain building water systems in order to reduce the risk of Legionella growth and spread.

Preventing Legionella

avoid water temperatures between 20°C and 45°C and conditions that favour the growth of legionella bacteria and other microorganisms
voiding water stagnation (run all your taps regularly, especially after the premises has been left for a long period); run all taps for at least ten minutes
ensure there are no dead ends (areas of the plumbing system where the water may stagnate) in your plumbing system

The chartered institute of environmental health has produced a guidance document with regards to reopening your food business and legionella.

Part 9Fitness for work

Page last updated: 05 May 2022

Name	Cookie purpose description	Provider	Expiry
CookieNotice	Used to hold the selections you make as to which cookies you allow from the site.	southwark.gov.uk	6 months
Bridge.Auth	used to hold authentication information	southwark.gov.uk	Session
ASP.NET_SessionId	used to hold session information	southwark.gov.uk	Session
ProcessDisplayOptionsActionFilter.Pref	This cookie is used to remember display settings for colour contrast and font sizes set by the user in the accessibility options panel.	southwark.gov.uk	30 days
visid_incap_#	Preserves users states across page requests.	southwark.gov.uk	1 year
incap_ses_#	Preserves users states across page requests.	southwark.gov.uk	Session
AWSELBCORS	Used to distribute traffic to the website on several servers in order to optimise response times.	www.servmetric.com	5 minutes
local_storage_support_test	The cookie is used in context with the local-storage function in the browser. This function allows the web site to load faster by pre-loading certain procedures.	twitter.com	Persistent
CalloutDisplay	This cookie is used to record what callouts have been dismissed during a session to ensure they do not re-appear.	southwark.gov.uk	Session
ApplicationGatewayAffinityCORS	Essential cookie used for web server load balancing	southwark.gov.uk	session
ApplicationGatewayAffinity	Essential cookie for web server load balancing	southwark.gov.uk	session

Name	Cookie purpose description	Provider	Expiry
___utmvc#	Collects information on visitor behaviour on multiple websites. This information is used on the website, in order to optimise the relevance of advertisement.	southwark.gov.uk	1 day
r/collect	This cookie is used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor's device and behaviour. It tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels.	google-analytics.com	Session

Name	Cookie purpose description	Provider	Expiry
_dc_gtm_UA-#	Used by Google Tag Manager to control the loading of a Google Analytics script tag.	google-analytics.com	1 day
_ga	Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.	google-analytics.com	2 years
collect	Used to send data to Google Analytics about the visitor's device and behaviour. Tracks the visitor across devices and marketing channels.	google-analytics.com	Session
_gid	Registers a unique ID that is used to generate statistical data on how the visitor uses the website.	southwark.gov.uk	1 day

Reopening your food business after the COVID-19 lockdown

Legionella

Preventing Legionella

Cookies policy

Review your privacy settings