“I’ve never even heard of legionaries’ disease, why does it have anything to do with me?”
Legionnaires’ disease is a serious disease caused by legionella bacteria. This is a form of walking pneumonia and is commonly found in the built-in water systems of hotels, hospitals, office buildings, flats and houses. It is often contracted by breathing in small droplets of contaminated water. It can be deadly if it does occur.
While you may think this is not something within your control, as a property manager you have a legal duty to manage the presence of legionella in your managed properties in order to protect people from harm.
“If a tenant were to get legionaries’ disease what will this mean for my business and me?”
You have a legal duty to manage the presence of legionella in order to protect people from harm. If a tenant were to get legionaries’ disease they could potentially bring a claim against you for negligence.
But please don’t let this scare you. While this is a serious disease there are things you can do in order to protect yourself.
“So… tell me how I can protect myself!”
Well, the first thing to be done is understand the precautions you can take to reduce the risk of legionella. As a property manager, there are six main risk-preventive measures you can adopt to control the risk of legionella bacteria. Some of these include testing water that is stored in tanks and removing redundant pipework’s. For further detail on this please see our article on Preventing Legionnaires’ Disease. We can provide this on request. Click here if you would like a copy and drop us an email.
However, the main thing we want to highlight in this article are the benefits of insurance and how this will be the backbone to your protection.
“How do I know if my current insurance policy covers my responsibilities around Legionnaires’ disease? ”
Your currrent insurance arrangements won’t necessarily cover you for the disease. Many businesses do not have adequate insurance in place to protect them from a claim. This means they are on their own to defend claims and fix the problem. Which is not a good place to be.
If your policy seems ambiguous or doesn’t clearly state you are covered then feel free to contact us and we will have a look for you. If your insurance policy doesn’t cover Legionaries’ at all then it may be a good idea to get a new policy in place.
“My policy doesn’t cover Legionaries’ disease… what should I do now?”
Don’t panic! Custodian understands the importance of having protection for Legionaries’ which is why our policy for property agents and managers is clear, about the cover we are offering here There is no reading through lengthy policy wording trying to find out whether you are covered or not or worse being faced with a claim and being told you aren’t covered. We are clear at the outset. Why risk ambiguity? Get in contact with us today to find out more we would be more than happy to help!
Just contact zahid@custodianinsurance.co.uk
