A Buyer's Guide to Using the Code of Conduct for Service Providers

The Health & Safety Executive’s document “Legionnaires’ Disease, The control of legionella bacteria in water systems, Approved Code of Practice and Guidance” (L8) makes specific reference to the Code of Conduct for Service Providers and comments that whilst it has no legal status it may give guidance to buyers about the standard of service they will receive from service providers who agree to abide by the Code. This document is intended to explain to you, the buyer, how the Code can help you to select a competent service provider.

There are a number of points that a buyer needs to understand about the Code:

It is voluntary - there is no statutory requirement for service providers to register - but the Legionella Control Association [LCA - formerly the Code of Conduct Association] believes that most responsible service providers will want to do so.

The Code of Conduct is designed to ensure that service providers establish and maintain appropriate management systems to enable them to deliver a consistent quality of service provision for the control of legionella. The LCA cannot guarantee that every individual in the service provider’s organisation will at all times follow their company procedures.

In the same way that ISO9001 is universally applicable and does not accredit specific products, the Code of Conduct does not prescribe or approve particular products, services or legionella control techniques. A company’s registration does not mean that the LCA has approved their specific products or services as being effective in controlling legionella.

All registrants are required to supply current copies of both the Code and their registration certificate to their clients and develop documented management procedures to ensure compliance. During the annual registration process the service provider has to provide the LCA with their Statement of Compliance.

The Statement of Compliance is a concise document which is intended to explain to any interested party how the service provider complies with the Service Provider Commitments of the Code, making reference where appropriate to other documented procedures. This Statement of Compliance is reviewed by the LCA to assess whether it gives confidence that the requirements of the Code are being met. Where the Statement of Compliance is inadequate the service provider is required to revisit both the document and the procedures supporting it. Only when a satisfactory standard has been reached is a registration confirmed.

A team of LCA Assessors carry out audits at the offices of the registered members, on a 2 to 3 year rolling programme. All members, including new members, of the LCA will have undergone formal auditing. However, as the buyer you should not assume that this is your guarantee of their compliance with the Code. You should satisfy yourself of both their compliance and competence using the Code as a tool to help you.

The LCA would recommend that you ask the prospective supplier to provide:

The LCA would also recommend that you verify their registration status by visiting the Web Page www.conduct.org.uk or by contacting the LCA secretariat by e-mail at conduct@btconnect.com

LCA Standards for Service Delivery:
To further aid the buyer in the procurement of legionella services, the LCA has produced standards for service delivery of all nine of the categories under which a member can be registered, shown on their Certificate of Registration. These detail the procedures a service provider should have in place to effectively deliver the services they provide. These standards include:

Greater definition of the service provided
Information regarding the knowledge, training & experience required by service provider staff working on your site.
Details of the procedures the service provider should have in place to plan, execute, audit & otherwise manage the specific service delivery.
The buyer’s specific responsibilities regarding these service elements.

Service Users, System Owners & Operators: Commitments & Responsibilities:

Legislative requirements for the control of legionellosis put the responsibility for compliance clearly with the owner/operator of water systems. They must take all reasonable care to ensure the competence of the service provider to carry out the work on their behalf.

The Code of Conduct is intended to give guidance on the standard of service management that a Client should expect from registered Service Providers.

Service providers should send personnel to site who have the appropriate level of competence to perform a required task. Only those people who have met those requirements should be permitted to carry out the specified task unsupervised.

Training should be provided by accredited organisations or by an internal training system that can be demonstrated as comprehensive and tested.

Competence should be assessed in the work place by the service provider’s senior management on at least an annual basis.

NOTE: The Service provider should maintain training records and competence assessments for all staff involved in the delivery of legionella control services, and these should be made available to the service user on request.