Notes for the people who run water hygiene businesses

11 June 2026

8 min read

The risk assessment wasn't the failure. The open actions were

Legionella prosecutions rarely turn on the risk assessment. They turn on the actions it raised and what happened to them next. Amey Community, Bupa Care Homes, and the register that stops it.

compliance

4 June 2026

6 min read

The wall planner falls over somewhere around forty sites

A wall planner handles ten sites. At forty, recurring water hygiene work becomes thousands of dated tasks a year, and the schedule breaks where you can't see it.

field operations · running the business

28 May 2026

6 min read

Proof debt: work you've done but can't yet prove

The gap between finishing a job and having the certificate filed is a backlog with a name. Why proof debt bites water hygiene firms hardest, and how to stop it.

field operations

21 May 2026

7 min read

Yes, digital water hygiene records are acceptable — if they're authenticated

HSE guidance never mandated paper. It says records should be authenticated, and sets how long to keep them. What that means a digital record-keeping system must do.

compliance · choosing software

14 May 2026

6 min read

'They said we never turned up'

When you subcontract to FM companies, attendance disputes are decided by records, not memory. What a defensible visit record holds, and why paper won't cut it.

field operations · running the business

7 May 2026

6 min read

The 'every two years' risk assessment rule isn't a rule

The fixed two-year legionella review vanished from ACOP L8 in 2013. Review is ongoing and change-triggered now, which asks more of duty holders, not less.

compliance

30 April 2026

6 min read

Monthly temperature monitoring that doesn't leak

The most repeated task in water hygiene leaks in three ways: wrong outlets, gaps when people are away, and the pad-to-spreadsheet hop. How to close each one.

compliance · field operations

23 April 2026

6 min read

The work is done. The invoice is three weeks away

The gap between finishing a water hygiene visit and raising the invoice is an interest-free loan to your client, and it is usually a paperwork problem, not billing.

running the business

16 April 2026

6 min read

Generic job software thinks in jobs. Water hygiene thinks in outlets

Standard field-service software organises around a job that opens and shuts. Water hygiene is assets, readings and recurrence. Why the two shapes don't fit.

choosing software

9 April 2026

7 min read

The seven-day rule: flushing little-used outlets, and proving it

An outlet unused for seven days is little-used and needs weekly flushing. The task is easy; proving you did it, per outlet, is where firms come unstuck.

compliance · field operations