What is a Water Safety Plan?
In our previous guide to legionella risks at open air festivals, we briefly touched upon the value of water safety plans at events like these.
But what exactly is a water safety plan? How does a water safety plan work? And how can they help your business manage and mitigate the risks of your water supply?
What’s the definition of a water safety plan (WSP)?
A water safety plan (or WSP) is a strategic plan to ensure the safety of water systems and their ability to provide safe drinking water for the people that use them.
Water safety plans are primarily used by water suppliers, but they’re also widely used by private businesses. All business premises use water in some way or another, whether it’s simple hot and cold drinking water systems or more specialised water facilities; and a WSP can help your organisation ensure that all water systems within your buildings are kept safe.
And as we’ve already seen, a WSP is also invaluable when running large public events in outdoor sites.
The WSP concept was created by the World Health Organisation back in 2004; with the British Standards Institute later setting out best practices for developing a water safety plan in their BS 8680: 2020 – Water Quality code of practice.
Is a water safety plan legally mandatory?
Strictly speaking, no.
As highlighted in the Health and Safety Executive’s HSG274 technical guidance for controlling legionella, there’s no statutory requirement to have a water safety plan in place. But don’t forget; all organisations have a legal duty to protect the health and safety of their staff, clients and partners. If a water safety hazard causes an injury or tragedy at your premises, lack of a proper WSP could be used against your business in a court of law to argue criminal negligence.
Is a water safety plan the same thing
as a water risk assessment?
Not exactly.
At first glance, water safety plans and water risk assessments (such as legionella risk assessments) might seem identical. Both are concerned with identifying the hazards, assessing the level of risk, and setting out measures to control those risks.
In fact, if you already have legionella risk factors written down and control measures in place, you’ve done some of the hard work of a WSP already!
Where WSPs deviate from water risk assessments, however, is a more holistic approach to water safety.
Where should I start with assembling a water safety plan?
A WSP starts with assigning a dedicated water safety group (or WSG) to oversee the assembly and implementation of the water safety plan. This team should be made up of individuals with expertise in different areas of the business and its water usage.
While it’s essential to have at least one person on the WSG with direct involvement in the day-to-day operations of the business, it’s also highly recommended to seek out external experts outside the business to fulfill roles in the group.
This can not only give your business access to unique specialist water safety expertise, but also prevents blind spots and unhelpful company culture habits from clouding the WSP.
The WSG should also be given the time and budget allowance they need to carry out their work effectively; so that the WSP is as comprehensive as it can be.
What should a water safety plan include?
Of course, since your water safety plan is specific to the water facilities and hazards of your particular workplace and industry type, no two WSPs are exactly alike. A good WSP should cover:
- A description of the water systems in use at the premises, covering the entire supply chain from the water’s entry onto your premises to its usage and consumption
- A complete list of potential hazards and hazardous events at each step of the water supply process
- An analysis of the likelihood and severity of each hazard/hazardous event to calculate the level of risk
- Control measures to eliminate or mitigate the level of risk; which may range from one-off procedures to long-term or permanent control measures
- A plan to implement the control measures, and to regularly monitor their effectiveness through observation, sampling and testing
- A clear management structure and communication strategies to inform staff, customers and any other relevant parties about control measures
- Up-to-date documentation of all steps of control measure implementations and monitoring/sampling/testing (including the outcomes of each)
Your WSP should be continually reviewed and updated as needed. If observation and testing measures reveal that your control measures aren’t working adequately, you’ll need to revise those measures to find solutions that do work.
A WSP doesn’t necessarily have to be assembled completely from scratch. In most cases, businesses will already have useful documents that can simply be referenced in the WSP; which might include:
- technical drawings
- floor plans
- flow diagrams
- maps
- reports
- existing risk assessments
However, don’t forget to ensure they’re up to date before adding them to your WSP. Keep in mind, too, that if any existing documents change (e.g. a new extension will require a new floor plan), the WSP must be updated with them to reflect the changes to hazards, risks and control measures.
Water safety plan records should generally be kept for the period where they’re relevant. In addition, outdated risk assessments should be kept for an additional two years, and previous monitoring, sampling and testing records which are no longer relevant to the WSP should be kept for an additional five years.
What’s the difference between hazards and hazardous events?
Hazards are fairly straightforward; they’re any object or activity which might harm an individual or a group of people.
Examples of water hazards can include things like biological pathogens or harmful chemicals.
A hazardous event, on the other hand, is any specific situation which amplifies the level of risk of existing hazards and/or creates new hazards. You can often think of a hazardous event as the underlying ‘cause’ of a particular hazard.
A key example would be flooding at your premises, which might contaminate your drinking water supply (particularly if you use a borehole).
But not all hazardous events are quite so extreme; indeed, even some seemingly mild situations can have serious consequences. For example, a fault in chlorination dosing equipment, the installation of lead piping, or even warm weather raising the temperature on outdoor pipes can potentially contribute to the growth and spread of legionella.
When describing hazardous events, it’s recommended to present the problem created with the reason for it – in other words, “X happens due to Y”. Going back to one of our previous examples of chlorine dosing equipment faults, we could describe the potential hazardous event as:
“Biological contamination from chlorine under-dosing as a result of dosing equipment failure”
Where can I get help with creating a water safety plan?
We’d recommend taking a look at the BS 8680:2020 guidance – as well as the WHO’s water safety in buildings guidance – to help you assemble your plan.
And if you need expert assistance, the water quality specialists at Dynamika can help. Our team can provide water risk assessments, chlorination services and water quality testing and analysis across the south of the UK to help you build and maintain your water safety plan.
Get in touch on 03333 22 0800 or contact us online to discuss your requirements.