A new audit program from Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Water QualityCheck™, will help managers in health care facilities identify and assess risks associated with the quality of drinking water.
Because water quality is so important in health care facilities, UL initially is focusing the program in this area. By partnering with UL, facility managers now can more proactively assess risks to water quality, such as Legionella, as well as other potential contaminants. UL plans to extend the program to other facilities, such as hotels, resorts, offices and manufacturing plants.
The Water QualityCheck program specifically monitors and tests for biological and chemical contaminants in a facility's water supply that might have been overlooked previously. The Safe Water Drinking Act does not regulate contaminants in a municipal water supply as it comes through a service line to a building and into the tap. The Water QualityCheck program will help facility managers better manage this gap in water quality.
The program involves five steps:
• an online survey designed to establish the specific program scope for a facility
• a survey review conference call, with initial team introductions, information-gap assessment, and audit-plan development
• an onsite initial quality assurance audit to review a facility's water system and sample collection
• a presentation and review of analytical results and audit findings
• a routine follow-up to assess ongoing compliance.
Unique characteristics of water systems in buildings can magnify risks to public health. Water-quality issues in buildings can arise from extreme temperatures, little or no disinfectant residual, areas of stagnation, and cross-connections and potential backflow events.
Current maintenance practices at health care facilities might not be sufficient to prevent waterborne infections and illness. Health care facility managers might discover a problem with their facility's water only after a public health problem occurs.
By partnering with UL, health care facilities can proactively identify and assess risks associated with their water quality and increase patient and employee confidence in their water quality.
Facilities that partner with UL for this program can benefit from a comprehensive audit and analytical assessment designed to help identify potential water-quality issues. Facilities that meet all the requirements of this program will be authorized to display a certificate of compliance with UL's Water QualityCheck program.
To date, UL has analyzed more than 1.5 million water samples for public water supplies, state and federal agencies, and industry and engineering firms.
