The Safety of Your Water Is Our Mission
Reduced risk of contamination; Defensible case; Effective control of legionellosis and Legionella bacteria ensured thanks to Aquacion Group Inc, a recognized leader since 2013 for its expertise and unique offering in water safety management.
Legionella audit
Legionella compliance audit - Water cooling towers
Quebec’s regulation to reduce the risk of legionellosis for cooling towers is five years. However, the vast majority of tower owners are either somewhat unaware or completely unaware of the real risks in their facilities.
There are significant discrepancies between what is required of programs, what is written in the registry and their compliance with the law.
A Legionella compliance audit improves knowledge of the facility’s risks, identifies weaknesses in the programs, but most importantly guides the actions to be taken to ensure that the programs will be defensible.
Legionella compliance audit: to answer these questions :
- Are our programs, our operation, the maintenance we do and our documentation (registry) in full compliance with the law?
- Are there notable and significant discrepancies between what we do and what we should do? Are we at risk?
- Are there any corrective measures and improvements that can be implemented to reduce our risks and lower our costs?
- What are the proliferation risks of equipment and facilities?
- Are our maintenance programs (water treatment and mechanical) adequate, comprehensive and well implemented?
- Is the documentation required by law provided: is the register complete, understandable
- Do the subcontractors have any excuses and could they deny their responsibilities in case of legionellosis due to our facilities? Are they right?
- Does our outsourced management or manager eliminate any aspect of negligence?
- Are there any fixes to programs, facilities, subcontractor contracts that will reduce our risk and exposure?
- Visual inspection and complete review of the facility: tower, tanks, dosing systems, maintenance programs, follow-up of programs and maintenance, subcontractors, available documentation (written or electronic) that leads to the establishment of risks and risk levels (low, medium, high);
- Identification of locations, processes, or other areas where non-compliance may subject the organization and employees to undue risk;
- Evaluation of the maintenance program management in relation to the training received by persons in charge, roles and responsibilities (internal and subcontractors) ;
- Corrections and recommendations for required or suggested repairs, changes and improvements to reduce the risks identified during the inspection.
Legionella Action Plan
The Aquacion Group will assist you in implementing the necessary action plan to ensure compliance and to reduce the risks identified during the audit.
We will propose a realistic action plan that will demonstrate that the company is aware of the risks of its facilities and that it is implementing corrective measures that may lead to the implementation of temporary follow-up measures if necessary.
Prevention and Maintenance Programs
The compliance audits that we have completed over the past eight years demonstrate some deficiencies with the development of maintenance programs required by the regulations.
To that end, our water safety programs are developed according to recognized best practices (ASHRAE Standard 188-2018, ASHRAE Standard 12-2020, CTI, AWT) to which we make particularities that reflect the specifics of your facility.
We also develop the Legionella management programs required for the new Well Health & Safety certification for buildings and structures, similar to those developed under ASHRAE Standard 188-2018: Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems. In Canada, maintenance programs are designed according to IM-15161-2013: Legionella Control in Mechanical Systems (Public Works and Government Services Canada)
Expertise: Outbreaks/
Contamination/Decontamination
We have been involved in legionellosis outbreaks in buildings as an expert in charge of recommending the action plan to regain sanitary control. This was done in agreement with Public Health. Our intervention objectives:
- Determine critical points of the installation that represent a legionella risk. Shutting down the devices or equipment that could be the source of contamination;
- Implementation of a water testing and analysis procedure at critical points. We recommend tests with rapid results that will lead to rapid corrective action. These tests aim to determine the most likely source of contamination;
- Estimates for decontamination procedures based on test results;
- Decontamination Work Monitoring;
- Post-decontamination monitoring and surveillance program;
- Testing and analysis to determine the effectiveness of measures and validation as recommended by health authorities;
- Monitoring and training to ensure safety and reduce proliferation risks.
Monitoring and Coaching
Let us monitor your facility. We can then quickly intervene with subcontractors and operators. Our intervention usually takes place when we detect a problematic situation or a deviation in the execution of the maintenance programs, at the level of analyses and follow-ups.
Early detection of deviations automatically means risk reduction.
Our expertise is also recognized and appreciated as technical support for the manager in charge of the operation and maintenance of a cooling tower in the regulatory environment.
In addition, we also assist in document management.
Water Flow Diagram
We inspect facilities to determine risks linked to towers, piping and equipment.
The water flow diagram that we create becomes an important tool for evaluating the causes of bacteriological contamination.
It indicates the critical points of the facility, the points that require additional monitoring to what is required in the maintenance program.
