When your water systems are such an important part of your business, it’s crucial that they are maintained and treated by the best water hygiene company available to you.
But if you don’t know what your water systems need, how are you meant to know that you are being offered adequate services or if you’re being let down by your water hygiene provider?
In this article, our experts outline exactly what services your water hygiene supplier should be offering to your business, helping you determine whether it’s time to switch suppliers.
There are dozens of players in the water hygiene industry, and as a business, you have a range of companies to choose from, but are you aware of what separates a great water hygiene provider from a bad one?
Here are the 8 standard services and qualities your water hygiene supplier should provide for your business:
There’s a lot that can go wrong with your water system. The last thing you need when you’re trying to communicate with your water hygiene company is to speak to a different member of their team every time you pick up the phone.
That’s why your water hygiene company should offer you support through a dedicated account manager, someone who knows your business inside out and is familiar with your water systems and exactly what work is required. This will make life easier, whether you’re organising regular checkups or emergency repairs.
In short, your water hygiene provider should feel like an extension of your own team who you can communicate with quickly and easily. If your current water hygiene company doesn’t provide a dedicated account manager, then it may be time to switch!
You’re not a water systems expert, so it’s only natural that you would have questions about everything to do with water hygiene processes, from ACOP L8 guidance to remedial works.
Therefore, your water hygiene provider should always be willing to answer any questions you have, including offering reassurance and advice if there are any aspects of water system maintenance that you are unsure about.
When maintenance is required for your water systems, it’s essential that your team are confident and know exactly what they’re doing. For example, do they understand why proper water hygiene maintenance is required and what they need to do to prevent the risk of legionella contamination?
If not, your water hygiene provider should provide an adequate level of training for your team to bring them up to speed on what is required and how to carry out their water hygiene responsibilities.
We’re not talking about making your people trained engineers, just confident enough to handle any day-to-day water hygiene tasks.
In this day and age, there’s no need to keep track of fly-away paperwork with your details and progress.
Your water hygiene provider should be able to offer you access to an e-portal, which acts as an electronic logbook where you can easily book on-site visits or check when your next risk assessment or remedial work needs to take place.
Every business is unique and it’s important that your water hygiene company are aware of your specific needs.
For example, a care home or a school will have very different needs to a commercial business; it’s important that the engineers from your water hygiene company appreciate the environment and can demonstrate the ways they will operate with care as they carry out their work.
In the same vein, your water hygiene company needs to be flexible. Your business hours may differ from standard times and you need a water hygiene provider who can accommodate out-of-hours or between certain times of work.
From where your business is positioned in the country, you need to know that your water hygiene provider can carry out your on-site visits easily, whether you need a risk assessment or remedial work.
For this reason, you need to look for a water hygiene company that can provide national coverage, or at least one that can get to you reasonably quickly.
When it comes to water hygiene, you don’t want to have to seek the services of several different companies.
Ultimately you need a water hygiene provider that you can trust to handle anything you might require, from risk assessments to water hygiene treatments to remedial works and more.
Last, but certainly not least, you need to make sure that the engineers from your water hygiene company are qualified to carry out the services they’re offering.
If remedial works or assessments are performed incorrectly, it could have a significant impact on your business, ranging from legionella outbreaks to HSE investigations.
Your water hygiene company should be part of the Legionella Control Association, and you want to see qualifications such as:
And more. Proper accreditations provide you with the peace of mind that a water hygiene supplier knows what they’re talking about.
At H2O Hygiene we have over a decade of experience offering a comprehensive range of water hygiene services to businesses from a broad range of industries.
If this article has highlighted the issues that you are experiencing with your current water hygiene provider, why not get in touch with our friendly team today?
