*This is a collaborative post.
With most safety-related issues, an essential part of risk prevention lies in a clear understanding of responsibility. It’s all very well if an organisation is broadly aware of a specific risk that it faces, but if no one is technically responsible for doing anything about it, it can be virtually impossible to ensure that the proper steps are taken.
Here, focusing on a business context, we explore who is responsible for the maintenance of safe water systems in business premises. From what the law actually says, to practical measures that will need to be taken to ensure water safety, here’s what you need to know.
The law
In the UK, under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 it is a legal requirement for employers to provide their employees with access to sufficient safe drinking water at all times.
Essentially, this means that in business contexts the ultimate responsibility lies with the business owner. That being said, this is a slightly simplified version of reality. In most cases, a specific framework will be implemented to further delineate who is responsible for each different role that goes into the overall process of ensuring water safety.
Assigning responsibility
Key to any business’s approach to water safety is the water safety plan, or WSP for short. This plan first of all consists of identifying and assessing the general and specific water-related risks of a given building or estate.
In order to mitigate any risks that are identified during that initial stage and through later assessments, another element of the water safety plan consists of creating a Water Safety Group, or WSG.
Exactly who this group includes will depend to a certain extent on the context. It will typically be multidisciplinary, with people from all sorts of areas involved. Importantly, the Water Safety Group will include a clear delineation of roles and responsibilities to individuals in the organisation, including a Responsible Person and a Deputy Responsible person.
It’s through this structure that legal responsibility for water safety in most organisations should be understood.
Ensuring water safety in the long run
Once the water safety plan and water safety group have been created, the foundations will be there to launch an effective long-term approach to water safety.
Ongoing measures will include carrying out regular testing of water systems, to spot potential risks and then mitigate those risks effectively. This might include testing water for impurities, or testing the temperature of water storage locations to make sure that bacteria will not proliferate.
Another measure will be the ongoing provision of training. This can be carried out both at a relatively basic level, through providing basic introductory knowledge to all employees, to more specific training on updates to regulations and monitoring technologies.
It’s crucial that you work out who is responsible for water safety in your organisation from the very beginning. As a business owner, you have a legal responsibility to provide clean water to your employees, and this won’t just take care of itself. By engaging with a water hygiene specialist, you can ensure that you’re taking an effective approach while also achieving regulatory compliance.
