ACoP L8 and HSG274

They are quoted together so often that they are often assumed to be one document. They are not, and only one of them carries special legal status.

Two documents, two jobs

L8 is an Approved Code of Practice. Its fourth edition was published in 2013 and is aimed at duty holders: employers and those in control of premises. It tells you what you have to achieve.

HSG274 is technical guidance. It exists because the fourth edition of L8 removed the technical material that had previously been its Part 2 and published it separately. It tells you how to achieve it. If you have been handed a single document that covers both, it predates 2013.

What Approved Code of Practice status means legally

This is the part that matters, and HSE’s own wording repays close reading. Following an ACoP is not compulsory, and you may use alternative methods to comply with the law. If you do follow it, you are doing enough to comply for the matters it covers.

The consequence sits in the next sentence. If you are prosecuted for a breach of health and safety law, and it is proved that you did not follow the relevant provisions of the Code, you will need to show that you have complied with the law in some other way, or a court will find you at fault. That is close to a reversal of the usual position, and it is why doing something different is a harder argument to run than it first sounds.

What L8 gives ACoP status to

The fourth edition applies Approved Code of Practice status to five specific areas. The rest of the document is guidance.

Risk assessment – Identifying and assessing the sources of risk in your systems.

The responsible person – Appointing someone to take managerial responsibility, named and competent.

The written control scheme – Setting out what will be done and the conditions the system has to hold.

Reviewing control measures – Checking the precautions remain effective, and revisiting them when they are not.

Duties in supplying systems – The obligations of those involved in supplying water systems and equipment.

The three parts of HSG274

The technical guidance is published in three parts, each covering a different class of system. Which applies depends on what you operate, and plenty of sites need more than one.

Part 1: Evaporative cooling – Cooling towers and evaporative condensers. The highest-risk systems, and the ones carrying notification duties.

Part 2: Hot and cold water – The part most buildings need. Temperatures, sentinel outlets, tanks, calorifiers and the monitoring regime.

Part 3: Other risk systems – Spa pools, humidifiers, air washers, emergency showers, fountains and anything else that generates an aerosol.

Which one you are being asked for

An assessment written to L8 and an assessment written to HSG274 Part 2 are not alternatives, and a supplier who treats them as interchangeable is telling you something. L8 sets the duty. Part 2 sets the method for the system you probably have. A competent assessment of a hot and cold water system should reference both, and should tell you which parts of HSG274 apply to you and which do not.

Assessed against the right document.

Talk to us about a Legionella risk assessment written to L8 and the relevant part of HSG274.

For any enquiries or questions please call: 01707 527 069