Legionella Responsible Person Training (Intermediate): Risk Assessment and Water Management Plans

If your name is on the Legionella appointment, the questions come to you: where is the risk assessment, who checks the temperatures, what did the last result say, and what did you do about it? This ten-hour online course teaches you to answer every one of them, and you build the paperwork for a 140-room hotel as you go. R2 950.

• Price: R2 950, the price you pay (ASC charges no VAT on courses)
• Time: about 10 hours, self-paced, works on a phone
• Level: Intermediate Level 3, course code FS70-0102
• Inside: 5 modules, 25 lessons, 5 games, 5 knowledge checks, a three-sitting workshop on a full hotel case, a workshop assessment and a 40 question final assessment
• Tools: the Risk Assessment and Water Management Plan Builder, which exports your plan as an xlsx workbook, and the Legionella Water Walk
• Pass mark: 70 percent, three attempts on every test, instant marking
• Accreditation: HPCSA CPD accredited, dated ASC certificate on passing, verifiable online

Start the Responsible Person course (R2 950)
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Who is this Legionella responsible person course for?

The person appointed to manage Legionella on a site, the deputy, and the managers who answer for water systems:

• Chief engineers and engineering managers, including on food and beverage sites
• Facilities and property managers
• SHEQ and QA managers
• Frail care and clinic managers
• Hotel general managers and owners
• Environmental health practitioners and consultants

South African law does not use the phrase responsible person. ASC uses it, as the UK’s ACOP L8 does, for the named, competent person the employer appoints in writing under section 16(2) of the OHS Act to manage day-to-day control. Module 1 shows you what that written appointment contains.

Your maintenance, housekeeping and care staff need the frontline course, Legionella Awareness Training (Basic), R799. Compare both on the Legionella training in South Africa page.

What will you walk away with?

• An asset register and schematic method. Every system, tank, heater, loop, outlet type and cooling tower on one register, and a line drawing of how water moves from the meter to the last outlet.
• The ASC risk rating scale. Likelihood times consequence, scored 1 to 25, with Low, Medium and High bands. A High gets interim controls within 24 hours and a permanent fix within a month.
• A complete risk assessment and action plan for a 140-room hotel, built by you in the workshop, with a model answer to compare after each sitting.
• A monitoring schedule and corrective action matrix (sheets in your exported workbook). For every asset: the control, the limit, the method, the frequency, the owner, and what happens when a check fails.
• A results reader for laboratory reports (step 6 of the builder). Enter the count and the system type and read the action band against current HSE guidance, the older WRC code and the healthcare rule.
• A contractor oversight checklist (Lesson 4.5). What a water treatment service report should contain, and how to check dip slide and dosing records.
• The Risk Assessment and Water Management Plan Builder. Seven steps from site and team to export. It exports your own plan as an xlsx workbook, with a sheet for each step and a sign-off sheet, to use on your own site.

Try the free Risk Assessment and Water Management Plan Builder and the free Water Walk first. The tools are free. The course teaches the method, the judgement behind every rating and limit, and the worked hotel case.

What does the Legionella responsible person course cover?

• Module 1: The responsible person’s brief. The science (including why a negative urinary antigen test does not clear a water system), the OHS Act and the HBA Regulations, 2022 in depth, SANS 893 and the international benchmarks, roles and written appointments.
• Module 2: Knowing your water systems. The asset register and schematic, hot water, cold water and storage tanks, cooling towers and evaporative condensers, spa pools and the other risk systems.
• Module 3: The risk assessment. What regulation 6 requires, hazard analysis and risk rating, the site survey, the action plan and the report.
• Module 4: The written control scheme: your water management plan. Control limits and monitoring, corrective action, verification and validation, records, and managing contractors.
• Module 5: Sampling, results, incidents and the workshop. Sampling, reading laboratory results, disinfection, case and cluster response, then three workshop sittings on Umthombo Bay Hotel.

The cases are a 140-room beachfront hotel, a dairy with evaporative condensers on its ammonia plant, and a 90-bed frail care centre. They are training scenarios built from real audit patterns.

How is the Legionella responsible person course assessed?

Each module has a game in the middle (Which regulation, Spot the defect, Rate the risk, In or out of control, Read the result) and a knowledge check at the end. In the workshop you survey Umthombo Bay Hotel, build its asset register, rate every asset, write the action plan and the water management plan, and read its laboratory results, over three sittings of about 20 minutes, with a model answer after each. A workshop assessment of scenario questions on the hotel follows, then a 40 question final assessment. The pass mark is 70 percent, with three attempts on every test and unlimited games. Marking and feedback are instant, so you never wait for a trainer. The final assessment is video proctored, so use a device with a working camera and allow camera access when asked. Your certificate is issued when you pass, dated and verifiable online.

Start the Responsible Person course (R2 950)
Build the hotel’s plan in the course, then export your own.

How much does Legionella responsible person training cost?

R2 950 per person, and that is what you pay: ASC charges no VAT on courses. The currency converter on the site shows US dollars, euros, pounds and other currencies beside the rand.

Set it against a two-day classroom course: the fee, two days of a senior manager away from site, travel and accommodation. This course runs on your schedule, ten hours on a phone or laptop, and you leave with a working plan, not only notes.

Then set it against getting it wrong. Of the 27 Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks the CDC investigated in the USA from 2000 to 2014, 23 had problems a water management programme could have prevented. When the disease is caught during a healthcare stay, about 1 in 4 people die (CDC). Section 38(2) of the OHS Act allows a fine of up to R100 000 or two years’ imprisonment, or both, where an employer negligently causes an injury (conduct that would have been culpable homicide had the person died). Section 37 presumes the employer liable for its employees and contractors unless it proves it did not permit the act, the act was outside their authority, and it took all reasonable steps. The plan you build here is how you start putting those reasonable steps on paper.

Training several managers? Ask for a team quote on WhatsApp.

Straight answers before you buy

Is it accredited?

Yes. The course is HPCSA CPD accredited, it is written for South African law, and you receive an ASC certificate when you pass.

Isn’t this just UK content?

No. It is built on the OHS Act, the HBA Regulations, 2022, NICD guidance, the notifiable medical condition regulations and the WRC code, and on South African buildings: geysers and heat pumps set low to save power, solar preheat, JoJo tanks after outages, boreholes, ammonia plant, frail care. The UK HSE guidance (ACOP L8 and HSG274), ASHRAE 188, the CDC toolkit and WHO are taught as benchmarks, with the points where they differ from South African instruments.

Can an online course make me competent to do risk assessments?

Not on its own, and we will not claim it does. The HBA Regulations, 2022 describe a competent person as someone with the knowledge, training, experience and, where applicable, qualifications the task needs. This course gives you the knowledge and the training, the method and the tools, and has you apply them to a full hotel case. Experience comes from applying the method on your own site, and the course is designed for that: you finish with your own site’s plan started in the builder.

We already pay a water treatment company. Why do I need this?

Because the duty stays with the employer under sections 8, 9 and 16 of the OHS Act. Section 37 presumes the employer liable for the acts and omissions of its employees and mandataries, such as contractors, unless it proves all three of these: it did not connive at or permit the act, the act was outside the person’s authority, and it took all reasonable steps to prevent it. A written instruction is not enough proof on its own, and a written agreement under section 37(2) removes the presumption only for the contractor’s acts, not the employer’s own duties. The course teaches you to read and challenge their reports. One example from the workshop: a contractor calls 1 200 cfu/L in a cooling tower acceptable. Under the 2003 WRC code it is. Under current HSE guidance it is in the immediate action band.

Two days in a classroom is hard to justify.

Then don’t spend them. Ten hours, self-paced, on a phone or laptop, in lessons of 14 to 20 minutes. No travel, and a fraction of the cost and time of a two-day classroom course.

How long is the certificate valid? Do we need refreshers?

The HBA Regulations, 2022 require training before exposure (regulation 4(3)) and refresher training every year, or at intervals the health and safety committee or representative recommends (regulation 4(4)). Your certificate is dated. The risk assessment itself must be reviewed at least every 24 months (regulation 6(6)).

Will it fit my sector?

The hotel is the main case, and the dairy and the frail care centre run through every module, so hospitality, food and beverage, facilities and healthcare managers all work on plant they recognise.

What if I fail?

Every test allows three attempts at 70 percent, with instant feedback, and the games are unlimited. If you use all three attempts, a reassessment costs R250. Course fees are not refundable.

Do I have to buy SANS 893?

No. SANS 893-1 and SANS 893-2 are a voluntary national standard, and the course explains what each part covers in ASC’s own words. As the appointed person, you should still hold a licensed copy.

Who wrote the course?

Mthokozisi Nkosi, founder of ASC Food Safety Consultants. He is completing a PhD in Public Health, holds an MSc in International Public Health, is an FSSC 22000 and BRCGS lead auditor and a registered lead auditor with Exemplar Global and IRCA, and advises national hotel, restaurant and food brands. ASC’s clients include KFC and Spur.

ASC has offices in Gqeberha, Johannesburg and Cape Town, 3 600+ course enrolments and 366+ Google reviews across those three offices, and was named Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber Entrepreneur of the Year 2022.

Read before you start

Two free guides from the same team: Legionella regulations in South Africa and Legionella testing in South Africa: when to test and how to read your results.

Start the Responsible Person course (R2 950)
HPCSA CPD accredited. Your own plan exported as an xlsx workbook.

Frequently asked questions

What does a Legionella responsible person do in South Africa?

South African law does not use the phrase. ASC uses it for the named person the employer appoints in writing, under section 16(2) of the OHS Act, to manage Legionella control day to day. The appointment does not move the duty off the employer. Read who is responsible for Legionella.

How long does the responsible person course take?

About ten hours: 440 minutes of lessons, including three workshop sittings of about 20 minutes each, plus the games, a two-minute briefing and the assessments. It is self-paced. The builder keeps your work on the device you use, and you can save it to a file to carry on on another phone or computer.

Do I need to do the Basic course first?

It helps but it is not required. The Intermediate course assumes the basics and recaps them briefly. If you are new to Legionella, or your site team has not been trained, Legionella Awareness Training (Basic) at R799 is the place to start.

Will the course help me update an old risk assessment?

Yes. Module 3 covers what regulation 6 requires, the review triggers and the report, and the workshop starts from a 2019 assessment that was never reviewed. The review rules are in our guide to Legionella risk assessment in South Africa.

Does the course teach me to read laboratory results?

Yes. Lesson 5.2 reads results against the current HSE bands, the older WRC 2003 code and the healthcare rule, and the builder’s results reader does the same for your own reports. When and how often to sample is in our guide to Legionella testing in South Africa.

Does the course cover cooling towers and evaporative condensers?

Yes. Module 2 covers how they create drift, drift eliminators, water treatment, dip slides and Legionella sampling, the action bands, idle systems and shutdowns, and siting near air intakes and terraces. The cases include a hotel rooftop cooling tower 15 metres from a restaurant terrace and evaporative condensers on a dairy’s ammonia plant.

Can I use the risk assessment builder for my own site?

Yes. After the hotel workshop you start a new plan for your own site and export it as an xlsx workbook with a sheet for each step and a sign-off sheet. The builder is also free to try on its own page. The course adds the method, the reasoning behind every rating and limit, the worked hotel case with model answers, the assessments and the certificate.

What happens after I pay?

Once payment is confirmed you are enrolled, and the course appears under Enrolled Courses in your dashboard. Work through it at your own pace. When you pass, your dated certificate is issued, and anyone can check it on the site’s certificate verification page.

How long do I keep access?

For as long as ASC offers the course. There is no expiry date, so you can come back to the lessons and the tools whenever you need them.

Can my company buy seats for several managers?

Yes. Each person needs their own seat so that each gets their own certificate. Send us a WhatsApp for a team quote and tell us how many seats you need.

Where to go next

Train your site team with Legionella Awareness Training (Basic), R799. See both courses on the Legionella training hub. Engineering and QA managers on food sites often add Food Safety for Engineering and Maintenance Teams and Practical Pathogen Environmental Monitoring. See all ASC courses.