The making of our new Legionella Awareness Course with ph Water Technologies

Posted 3 years ago

You may have recently seen that our new Legionella Awareness Training is now live! This CPD Accredited online training course is for everyone to understand the risks of exposure to legionella bacteria, this course is particularly useful for those who are responsible for protecting an organisation from this kind of bacterial contamination; particularly people who manage, control or monitor the risk of exposure (as well as those responsible for record keeping.)

How did we go about revamping our Legionella Awareness Course?

When we decided to re-create our online Legionella Awareness training course, we knew we needed to consult experts to make sure the course was accurate, concise and effective. We conducted thorough research, crafted a beautiful script, and had the determination to make the course look fantastic… but what we didn’t have was 18 years of practical legionella training experience, or access to a large scale water processing plant!

So I picked up the phone and spoke to Zak Spencer WMSoc, General Manager of ph Water Technologies Ltd and asked him whether ph Water Technologies would like to help us to make our Legionella Awareness course, so we could provide our learners with accurate demonstrations from an experienced and reliable source. Here’s why they chose to get involved…

When iHasco contacted us requesting support in creating an interactive training for Legionella Awareness we were excited by the opportunity.

For many years our team of training consultant have delivered high calibre bespoke training courses in a classroom environment. Providing an online interactive Legionella Awareness course would further compliment the training services that we already provide.

For us it is crucial that any Legionella training is both informative and factual. We had to be certain that that any interactive course clearly demonstrates the potential dangers and what control measures should be implemented to reduce the risk.

With the combined expertise of iHasco and ph Water Technologies, we are confident that this interactive “Legionella Awareness” training will provide those in control of premises and those with health and safety responsibilities for others, a basic understanding & help them comply with their legal duties in relation to legionella.

Within a week, we had Peter Quail (Training Manager at ph Water Technologies) ready to guide us through a total of 6 slides, which we filmed on location at a newly upgraded large public site and then we went back to a more modestly sized office at our old iHasco offices. The day we spent filming with Peter and Zak was so interesting and enlightening that it lifted the whole course, allowing us to alternate from real world examples to clean thoughtful animations skillfully designed and animated by our very own Marina Panagiotou. The balance of which keeps the tone of the course professional and efficient without ever veering towards counterproductive scaremongery.

When we created this course, we knew that it would never replace the practical training that’s needed for it to be a replacement for the expertise of a Legionella technician, if you suspect anything is amiss with your water systems you must raise this with your manager and seek help from water technicians. But we are proud to have worked with industry experts that have helped us provide an informative and accurate training course for those of us who need to be aware of our responsibilities – and keep our eyes open for any risks posed to us or our colleagues!

Our friends at ph Water Technologies understand (as do we at iHasco) that using both in-person and online training alongside one another, can raise everyone’s understanding of these vital safety signals, saving people’s lives on a daily basis.

I am really pleased with the finished course, it has a real freshness to it, compared to some rather stagnant online resources I had come across during my research. The most important and time consuming element to the shoot was the attention we paid to the smallest details of the procedure, each set up having to be pinpoint perfect so there could be no ambiguity in the scene or the information being conveyed. But it was well worth it – between 2011 and 2013 alone, 84 people in the UK died from Legionella bacteria.

Legionella Awareness Course

Our online Legionella Awareness Training increases awareness of the dangers of legionella bacteria and highlights the importance of regular maintenance and monitoring of systems where they may be found.

All at iHasco would like to extend their thanks to Zak, Graeme and Peter for their help with the course. For more information about ph Water Technologies, please contact Zak Spencer WMSoc, General Manager at zaks@phwatertechnologies.co.uk or via 01252 961186 / 07917 306882

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