What this is
What is a legionella control record?
What is a legionella control record?
It is the periodic evidence that a water system's legionella controls are actually being carried out — temperature checks at outlets, flushing of little-used points, sampling where required, and the condition of storage and cooling equipment. It is completed by the responsible person named under the risk assessment, at whatever interval that assessment sets.
Why does the record separate temperature monitoring from flushing and dead legs?
A hot water system can pass every temperature check at the outlets people use every day while the dead leg behind a decommissioned machine sits stagnant and unmeasured. Splitting the sections forces a review of outlets that are checked against outlets that exist but are rarely used, which is where the standard failure mode lives.
Is this the same as a water treatment record?
No. This record covers legionella-specific controls — temperature, flushing, dead legs, storage condition and sampling — on systems capable of generating aerosols. Water Treatment Record covers the chemistry and dosing programme for boiler, cooling and process water and links back to this one where a system carries both risks.
Scope
When is a legionella control record required?
This is the control record for aerosol-generating water systems specifically — hot and cold water services, cooling towers, evaporative condensers, showers, eyewashes and hose reels. It is not the place for boiler chemistry, refrigeration plant readings, or general water dosing.
Use this template when
- The interval set by the site's legionella risk assessment has come round for temperature, flushing or sampling checks
- A little-used outlet or a dead leg has been identified and needs its flushing regime recorded
- A water sample has come back and needs its result, and any resample, tracked to closure
- A cooling tower or evaporative condenser needs its seasonal cleaning and disinfection logged
- The workspace is being set up and the outlets and systems carrying aerosol risk need registering for the first time
Do not use it for
- Boiler Operation Record, which records boiler operating parameters, water treatment results and blowdown through a shift.
- Refrigeration Plant Log, which records suction and discharge pressures, temperatures, oil levels and run hours across the refrigeration plant.
- Water Treatment Record, which records dosing, testing and results for boiler, cooling and process water systems.
- Refrigeration Unit Service Record, which covers refrigerant handling and unit service rather than water hygiene.
- Anything outside KnowMaintain, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 45001 cl.8.1 requirements does this satisfy?
ISO 45001 cl.8.1 requires operational planning and control for the processes needed to manage occupational health and safety risk, including establishing criteria, implementing controls against those criteria, and retaining evidence that the controls were carried out.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Identify the responsible person and the interval the risk assessment sets | Header |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Control the process by monitoring against defined temperature criteria | Temperature monitoring |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Identify hazards arising from little-used outlets and stagnant pipework | Flushing and dead legs |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Maintain equipment whose condition affects the level of risk | Storage and equipment |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Verify control through sampling where temperature control alone is insufficient | Sampling |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Retain documented information evidencing the process was carried out as planned | Result |
| ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Close out non-conformances identified against the control criteria | Result |
What it does not cover
- A risk assessment marked 'Overdue', which means every check recorded beneath it is being carried out against criteria nobody has confirmed are still correct.
- Little Used Outlets Identified marked 'Partly', which means the outlet inventory this whole record depends on is known to be incomplete.
- Within Required Range marked 'Marginal' with no action recorded, which means a temperature drift has been observed and left unaddressed.
- Legionella Detected at 'Low count' with Resampled After Action left blank, which means a positive result was found and never confirmed clear.
- Redundant Pipework From Removed Plant marked 'Significant' with no removal date set, which means a known dead leg risk has been logged and not scheduled for action.
Global
Legionella Control Record requirements by country
Legionella control carries some of the most specific regulatory expectations in this library, and the instrument that governs it changes sharply by location, even where the underlying biology is identical.
HSE Approved Code of Practice L8 and HSG274
L8 sets out the legal duty under COSHH and the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act to assess and control legionella risk, with HSG274 providing the detailed technical guidance this record's temperature and flushing regime follows almost field for field.
An HSE inspector will ask for exactly the evidence this record produces — temperature logs, flushing records for little-used outlets, and sampling results with any positive result followed through to resolution.
ASHRAE Standard 188 and the OSHA General Duty Clause
ASHRAE 188 is the recognised industry standard for legionellosis risk management in building water systems, referenced by an increasing number of state and local health codes, while OSHA's general duty obligation catches employers with no more specific rule in force.
Where a jurisdiction has adopted ASHRAE 188 into local code, this record's temperature, sampling and equipment-condition sections map directly onto the water management plan documentation that code requires.
AS/NZS 3666 series
This standard specifically addresses cooling water systems and warm water systems for legionella control, with prescriptive requirements for cleaning frequency, drift eliminators and biocide dosing that go further than the general guidance found elsewhere.
The Tower Cleaned And Disinfected and Drift Eliminators Intact fields are drawn directly from the kind of equipment condition checks AS/NZS 3666 treats as mandatory rather than advisory.
How to complete it
How to complete a legionella control record, step by step
Filling in each field is straightforward. The judgement is in deciding when a technically-compliant entry is actually masking a gap in what the record covers at all.
A record that checks the same twelve outlets every interval looks stable, but stability is not the same as completeness. Little Used Outlets Identified marked anything less than Yes should trigger a fresh walk of the site, not just a note for next time.
Legionella Detected offers Not detected, Low count and Above action level, and a completer needs to record what the lab's actual reporting threshold was rather than assuming Not detected is an absolute zero — the distinction matters if a later sample comes back positive and the trend needs reading honestly.
Dead Legs Removed Where Possible marked Some or No is common on older sites, but the record needs to show whether 'not possible' was actually assessed by someone competent or whether it has simply become the standing answer year after year.
Cooling Tower Present marked Yes changes what 'compliant' means for the rest of the record — a site with no tower and a site with an uncleaned tower cannot be judged against the same bar, and the completion needs to reflect that rather than averaging both into one score.
What auditors find
Most common legionella control record findings
The findings that recur are less about missed temperature readings and more about outlets, dead legs and positive results that were identified and then not carried through to resolution.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Little Used Outlets Identified marked Partly for more than two consecutive intervals | HSE ACOP L8 | Commission a full outlet survey rather than accepting a partial inventory as the ongoing baseline. |
| Legionella Detected at Low count with Resampled After Action left blank | HSG274 | Make resampling mandatory and tracked to a result whenever any positive count is recorded, however low. |
| Redundant Pipework From Removed Plant marked Significant across multiple reviews with no removal scheduled | ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Raise a capital or maintenance action the first time significant redundant pipework is logged, not after it recurs. |
| Risk Assessment Current marked Overdue while checks continue on the old assessment's regime | HSE ACOP L8 | Suspend sign-off on checks derived from an overdue assessment until it is renewed, rather than treating the checks as valid regardless. |
| Tower Cleaned And Disinfected marked Overdue on a cooling tower marked Present | AS/NZS 3666 | Escalate an overdue tower clean immediately given the elevated risk a tower carries relative to domestic hot and cold systems. |
| Score Percent high while Completeness Percent is low | ISO 45001 cl.8.1 | Read the two figures together at every review — a high compliance score on a partially completed record is not evidence the system is controlled. |
Case in point
Case in point: the shower nobody used
A site's temperature monitoring section had passed for eleven consecutive quarters, drawing from the same list of outlets each time — kitchens, main washrooms, the plant room hose reel. A decommissioned production line had left behind a shower unit in a locker room nobody used since the shift pattern changed two years earlier. It never appeared on the outlet list because nobody had walked that corridor with the risk assessment in hand since the change.
A routine deep clean uncovered the unit, still plumbed in, water sitting stagnant at ambient temperature. The record showed a hundred percent temperature compliance rate for the whole period, because the outlets it did check were genuinely fine — the risk had been sitting entirely outside what the record was ever asked to look at.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
6 sections
- Reference
- MNT-074
- Archetype
- Record
- Record ID
- LEG-2026-000
- Scoring
- Compliance rate
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- Yes
- Basis
- ISO 45001 cl.8.1
- Links
- Links Water treatment, Biological exposure
- Tags
- Utilities, Legionella
- Sections
- 6
- Fields
- 50
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 2
Header
10 fieldsRecord ID*
Auto sequence. Format LEG-2026-000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Little Used Outlets Are The Risk
Legionella grows in stagnant warm water. The shower nobody uses, the dead leg from a removed machine and the emergency eyewash are where it lives.
Risk Assessment Current*
- Yes3 pts
- Overdue1 pt
- None0 pts
Responsible Person*
Check Period*
Temperature monitoring
Repeats6 fieldsOutlet Or Point*
System*
Temperature*
Within Required Range*
Hot above sixty at the calorifier and above fifty at the tap within a minute. Cold below twenty.
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Time To Reach Temperature
Action If Out Of Range
Flushing and dead legs
6 fieldsLittle Used Outlets Identified*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Flushing Regime In Place*
- Yes3 pts
- Informal1 pt
- None0 pts
Flushing Records Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Dead Legs Identified*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Dead Legs Removed Where Possible*
Pipework left in place after a machine is removed is the classic dead leg and the classic finding.
- Yes3 pts
- Some1 pt
- No0 pts
Redundant Pipework From Removed Plant*
- None3 pts
- Some1 pt
- Significant0 pts
Storage and equipment
9 fieldsCalorifier Temperature Correct
- Yes3 pts
- Marginal1 pt
- No0 pts
Cold Water Tanks Inspected
- Yes3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Tank Lids And Screens Intact
- Yes3 pts
- Damaged1 pt
- Missing0 pts
Cooling Tower Present*
- No3 pts
- Yes1 pt
Tower Cleaned And Disinfected
- Yes3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Drift Eliminators Intact
- Yes3 pts
- Damaged1 pt
- Missing0 pts
Showers And Eyewashes Flushed*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Shower Heads Descaled
- Yes3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Hose Reels And Wash Stations Included*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Sampling
6 fieldsSampling Carried Out*
- Yes3 pts
- Overdue1 pt
- No0 pts
Legionella Detected*
- Not detected3 pts
- Low count1 pt
- Above action level0 pts
Count If Detected
Action Level Exceeded
- No3 pts
- Yes0 pts
Remedial Action Taken
Resampled After Action
- Yes, clear3 pts
- Yes, still positive0 pts
- Not yet1 pt
Result
13 fieldsItems Assessed*
Excludes anything marked N/A.
Items Failed*
Score Percent*
Calculated on submission. High is good. N/A items leave the denominator.
Result Band*
- Pass3 pts
- Caution1 pt
- Fail0 pts
Completeness Percent*
How much of the template was actually answered. A high score on a half completed form is not a high score.
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Responsible Person*
Signature*
Site Engineer*
Second Signature*
MNT-074 · record IDs look like LEG-2026-000 · Links Water treatment, Biological exposure
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The form is the easy part. Keeping the outlet inventory honest and every positive result carried through to resolution is the work that actually slips.
Holds the legionella control record against every registered outlet and system, flags checks due against the risk assessment interval, and keeps sampling results linked to any resample they triggered.
Feeds positive sample results and action-level exceedances into the site's broader biological exposure picture, alongside other occupational health monitoring.
Surfaces overdue risk assessments, unresolved dead legs and uncleaned towers as live risks rather than closed paperwork, keeping them visible until the underlying condition is fixed.
Coordinates the crew across outlets, systems and contractors, rolls compliance and exceptions into one view, and holds every write for your approval before it touches a record.
This template lives in KnowMaintain — asset maintenance. Work orders, planned maintenance, calibration, reliability and shutdowns.
Meet KnowMaintain→Glossary
Legionella Control Record definitions and key terms
- Dead leg
- A length of pipework that no longer carries regular flow, typically left behind after equipment is removed or a system is modified, where water can stagnate and temperature control breaks down.
- Little-used outlet
- A tap, shower or other point that is not run often enough to keep water moving through it, raising the risk of stagnation even where the outlet itself remains connected to an otherwise well-managed system.
- Drift eliminator
- A component in a cooling tower or evaporative condenser designed to stop water droplets carrying aerosols out of the airstream, reducing the risk of legionella-laden mist escaping the system.
- Action level
- The concentration of legionella in a sample above which a documented remedial response is required, distinct from any positive result below that threshold which may only need monitoring.
- Calorifier
- A hot water storage vessel heated indirectly, typically by a boiler circuit, where stored water temperature is a primary legionella control point.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about legionella control record
How often should this record be completed?+
At the interval set by the site's own risk assessment, not a fixed calendar period. Check Period is a required free-text field precisely because intervals differ by system and by risk, and the record does not impose a single schedule.
What happens if a positive legionella result comes back between scheduled intervals?+
The record is not limited to the scheduled cycle. Sampling, Legionella Detected, Action Level Exceeded and Resampled After Action are all designed to be completed as soon as a result is known, independent of when the next routine check is due.
Does a cooling tower need its own separate entries from the domestic hot and cold system?+
Yes in practice, because Cooling Tower Present, Tower Cleaned And Disinfected and Drift Eliminators Intact are distinct fields from the domestic Calorifier and Cold Water Tanks fields, reflecting that the two carry different risk profiles and different control regimes.
Why does Cooling Tower Present score No higher than Yes?+
The scoring reflects that a cooling tower is inherently higher risk equipment regardless of how well it is managed, so its mere presence pulls the score down while good management of it earns credit elsewhere in the storage and equipment fields.
Is a Legionella Record ID required on the Water Treatment Record for every cooling system?+
Not as a hard system rule, but the scope guidance for both templates treats the link as expected wherever a system can generate aerosols, and its absence is flagged as a recurring finding for reviewers to chase.
Can this record be used for a site with no cooling towers at all?+
Yes. Cooling Tower Present simply defaults to No, and the storage and equipment section still applies to calorifiers, cold water tanks, showers and eyewashes regardless of whether a tower exists on site.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Pressure Systems and Refrigeration
Refrigeration Contractor Verification
Verifies refrigeration contractor certification, ammonia competence, emergency capability and out of hours response
Environmental Aspects Register
Lists how your activities interact with the environment and how significant each interaction is
Refrigeration Unit Service Record
Records service and performance testing of a transport refrigeration unit, including temperature pull down and refrigerant
Boiler Operation Record
Records boiler operating parameters, water treatment results and blowdown through a shift
Refrigeration Plant Log
Records suction and discharge pressures, temperatures, oil levels and run hours across the refrigeration plant
Water Treatment Record
Records dosing, testing and results for boiler, cooling and process water systems
More in Utilities
Boiler Operation Record
Records boiler operating parameters, water treatment results and blowdown through a shift
Refrigeration Plant Log
Records suction and discharge pressures, temperatures, oil levels and run hours across the refrigeration plant
Water Treatment Record
Records dosing, testing and results for boiler, cooling and process water systems
Steam Trap Survey
Surveys steam traps for failed open and failed closed condition, with the energy cost of each failure
Emergency Generator Test Record
Records the periodic run and load test of standby generation, with fuel, coolant and transfer performance
Uninterruptible Power Supply Check
Checks battery condition, autonomy and transfer on systems protecting controls, chillers or data
Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO 45001 cl.8.1 — Operational planning and control
- HSE Approved Code of Practice L8 — Legionnaires' disease
- HSG274 — Legionnaires' disease: technical guidance
- ASHRAE Standard 188 — Legionellosis Risk Management
- AS/NZS 3666 — Air-handling and water systems of buildings
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.