Legionella at open-air festivals: what’s the risk?
Time for another update in our ‘What’s the risk?’ blog series! With the festival season in full swing, Dynamika director Brett Wallace is taking a look at how open air sites can potentially become a major health hazard…
We’re in the throes of a new festival season; and for festival organisers, that means you’ll soon be knee-deep in the preparations for next year’s event!
But between the mad dash of budgeting, securing venues, recruiting staff, signing contracts and building your marketing plan, it’s easy to end up with your safety responsibilities on the back burner – especially when it comes to hidden dangers like legionella.
How can legionella grow and spread at festivals?
Festival environments pose a myriad of complex conditions which can contribute to the spread of legionella.
For starters, some festival venues can sit dormant for months – if not years – between events. Pre-existing on-site water facilities can harbour stagnant water with potentially dangerous levels of legionella bacteria.
Most festival sites will require temporary water supplies instead; but these can pose a risk too. In an open-air environment, the warmth from the sun can bring storage tank temperatures into the 20°C to 45°C risk zone for legionella growth.
These water supplies will be distributed across the entire festival site; from drinking stations and food preparation facilities (especially at food festivals), to showers, toilets and cooling mist systems.
These water facilities will likely be in constant use throughout the entire event, and monitoring them all effectively can prove to be a serious challenge.
Don’t forget, too, that many vendors, exhibitors and performers will be bringing their own equipment and facilities onto your site.
A single point of legionella growth can contaminate supplies across your site and potentially infect significant numbers of festivalgoers.
Adding to the risk is the industry-wide movement away from single-use plastics, including plastic drinks bottles. This is great news for the environment, but it does potentially leave attendees more vulnerable to legionella infection from municipal drinking water taps.
Is it possible to contract Legionnaire’s disease from a festival?
While legionella outbreaks at festivals are largely uncommon, there have been cases in the past.
Back in 1999, the Holland Flower Festival (or the Westfriese Flora, as it was known at the time) became the flashpoint of one of the deadliest outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease. The source of the outbreak was later traced back to an unchlorinated hot tub being displayed by a vendor.
Despite being closed to the public, the hot tub still managed to transmit Legionnaires’ disease to at least 180 festivalgoers through aerosolised water droplets; with at least 21 of them sadly passing away.
A similar outbreak happened with a hot tub display at a fair in the US in 2019, with 133 people contracting Legionnaires’ disease and four fatalities. While hot tubs might seem like an edge case, both of these incidents effectively came from poor monitoring of external vendors’ equipment.
Ask yourself; are you keeping tabs on all the water sources and equipment your vendors are bringing to your festival event?
What are festival organisers’ responsibilities for preventing legionella?
As outlined on the Health and Safety Executive’s website;
“You are responsible for ensuring that overall safety at the event is maintained so that as far as reasonably practicable, people setting up, breaking down and attending the event are not exposed to risks to their health and safety.”
That means having control measures in place, communicating them effectively to your staff, ensuring your staff are competent to follow safety measures, and monitoring and reviewing your health and safety compliance.
While you’re at the planning stage of your festival, make sure everyone understands who is responsible for safety duties. Draw up a dedicated water safety plan which identifies the risks, responsibilities, mitigation procedures (e.g. checklist audits on third-party vendors and water contractors) and emergency procedures surrounding your festival’s water facilities.
For larger festivals, you’ll likely need a dedicated water contractor who can supply on-site tankers to keep up with the demand. When selecting water contractors, choose one that holds a ‘blue card’ with the National Water Hygiene EUSR register.
All water distribution systems should be thoroughly risk-assessed, with samples taken and reviewed if required by your local council.
If your contractor is installing pipes and fittings, you should also check that they’re trained in BS8558 2015 standards and that all fittings are compliant with the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999.
When selecting your vendors and suppliers, be sure to have a robust contract which outlines your safety expectations (including water safety).
Make a point of highlighting your risk mitigation procedures in the vendor contract (with relevant indemnification clauses and/or termination clauses for any non-compliance). If your vendors know you’ll be keeping an eye on them, they’ll know that they can’t afford to be lax on their water safety.
After the event, it’s good to gather feedback from your vendors on their experience at your festival. Ask them to include their thoughts on safety throughout the festival period, as this can help you catch issues you might have missed during the festival period and improve on them for next time.
Need help with preparing your water safety plan for your festival event? Dynamika can provide complete legionella safety risk assessments, water quality testing and even chlorination services to help you keep your team and festival goers safe. Get in touch on 03333 22 0800 or contact us online to discuss your requirements.