---
title: "Legionella risk assessment template: a worked UK example you can copy"
source_url: https://legionella.io/articles/legionella-risk-assessment-template-a-worked-uk-example-you-can-copy/
canonical_url: https://legionella.io/articles/legionella-risk-assessment-template-a-worked-uk-example-you-can-copy/
pillar: "Legionella Risk Assessment"
summary: "Copy a fill-in Legionella risk assessment template, follow a worked example for a small UK office, and see exactly what each field should record."
primary_keyword: "Legionella risk assessment template"
date_published: 2026-01-20
date_reviewed: 2026-06-26
author: "Legionella.io editorial team (REMOTE TECH LTD)"
reviewed_against: "HSE L8 and HSG274 guidance"
region: "United Kingdom"
license: "(c) REMOTE TECH LTD. Quote freely with attribution and a link to source_url."
---

# Legionella risk assessment template: a worked UK example you can copy

A usable Legionella risk assessment template is just a structured set of fields that force you to record the right things in the right order: every water asset, where bacteria could grow or spread, who could be exposed, and the control that keeps each risk in check. Below is that structure, written so you can paste it straight into a spreadsheet, plus a worked example for a small office so it stops being abstract.

A blank template does not make you compliant. It makes you consistent, which is the part most people get wrong when they assess from memory.

## Why a template beats a blank page

The legal duty is to identify and assess the risk from Legionella in your water systems and put in proportionate controls. The Approved Code of Practice (L8) and the technical guidance HSG274 set out what that assessment has to cover, and BS 8580-1 gives a recommended structure for the document itself [1][2][3]. A template is simply that expectation turned into headings you cannot skip.

The pragmatic call: build it once as a spreadsheet, then reuse the same columns for every building you look after. You get comparable records, an audit trail that reads the same each time, and no awkward gaps where last year you forgot to log the dead legs.

## The template: what each section must capture

Copy these sections. Each line is a field, written verb-first so it prompts an entry rather than a shrug. Group them exactly like this and the document will satisfy the structure L8, HSG274 and BS 8580-1 expect [1][2][3].

**Site and responsibility (the header block)**
- Record the site address, building use and assessment date.
- Name the duty holder and the responsible person.
- Name the assessor and state their competence and the basis for it.
- Set the next review date and the trigger events that would force an earlier review.

**Asset register (one row per item)**
- List every cold water storage tank, calorifier, water heater and electric heater.
- List every outlet group: taps, showers, sinks, the cleaner's sink, any spray tap.
- Flag low-use or dead-end pipework, dead legs and infrequently used outlets.
- Note any TMVs, expansion vessels, softeners and point-of-use filters.
- Record material, approximate age and condition where it bears on risk.

**Risk identification (one row per hazard)**
- State the hazard: stagnation, suitable growth temperature, scale or biofilm, aerosol generation.
- State who is exposed and how vulnerable they are.
- Rate likelihood and consequence so the row carries a clear priority.

**Controls and written scheme (one row per control)**
- Describe the control measure for each asset or hazard.
- State the target condition your risk assessment sets (for example hot water hot at the outlet, cold water cold).
- State the monitoring task, who does it and how often.
- State where the record lives.

**Actions (one row per remedial item)**
- Describe the remedial action, the owner and the due date.
- Carry the priority through from the risk row so the worst items rise to the top.
- Leave a column for completion date and verification.

How to use it: fill the asset register first by walking the building, then write a hazard row only where an asset actually presents one, then attach a control to each hazard. Do it in that order and the document almost writes itself.

## A worked example (illustrative, small office)

This is a composite, illustrative scenario, not a real site. A single-storey office, roughly fifteen staff, mains cold water, one small electric water heater feeding a kitchenette and a shared toilet block, plus a shower in an accessible WC that almost nobody uses.

An asset-register row for that shower might read:

> Asset: AWC shower, mixer fed from electric heater. Use: rare. Risk note: low-use outlet, aerosol-generating, potential for stagnation between uses.

The matching written-scheme row turns that observation into a decision:

> Control: weekly flush of the shower to draw fresh hot and cold through, run until temperatures stabilise. Monitoring: temperature check at the outlet on a set frequency your assessment defines. Owner: facilities. Record: temperature log.

Notice the difference. The asset row records what exists; the control row records what someone must do about it, when, and where the proof lives. A template that blurs those two is the most common reason an assessment looks complete but controls nothing.

For the kitchenette and toilet taps, HSE's guidance on hot and cold water systems is the anchor: hot water stored and distributed so it reaches the outlet hot, cold water kept cold, and outlets used or flushed so water does not sit and warm up [4]. Your assessment, not a generic figure copied from a forum, sets the exact temperatures and flush frequencies for your building [2].

## The fields people quietly skip

The asset register is where templates go thin. People log the obvious tank and calorifier and miss the cleaner's sink, the disused outside tap and the shower nobody books. Those low-use outlets are precisely the stagnation points a good assessment exists to catch.

The other skipped field is review. The duty holder has to keep the assessment current and revisit it when the system, the building use or the occupancy changes [5]. Leave a review trigger column empty and the document silently expires.

In my view, the third weak spot is the competence line. A template can structure the work, but it cannot supply the judgement to rate a risk or set a control. Recording who assessed it, and why they were competent to, is what makes the rest defensible.

## A genuine caveat

This template and worked example are general guidance to help you organise a site-specific assessment, not a finished assessment for your building and not legal or engineering advice. The temperatures, frequencies and control choices that suit one site can be wrong for another, and only a competent person who has actually surveyed your system can set them. Use the structure; supply the judgement, or bring in someone who can.

## Where a spreadsheet stops coping

A spreadsheet template is the right starting tool for a small, simple building. It strains once you have several sites, recurring monitoring tasks and temperature readings that need a date stamp and an owner against each one. At that point the asset register and the written scheme want to be live records, not a file someone remembers to update.

That is the moment to move from a manual template into a digital logbook such as L8log, where the asset register, the scheduled flushing and temperature tasks, and the audit-ready evidence sit together and chase themselves.

Today's step: open a spreadsheet, paste in the five section headings above, and fill the asset register for one building by walking it outlet by outlet. The rest of the assessment hangs off that list.

## FAQ

### Is a blank Legionella risk assessment template enough on its own?
No. A template gives you a consistent structure, but it does not assess anything. The fields still have to be completed by someone competent for your specific system, and the controls have to reflect your building, not a sample answer [1][2].

### Should I use a spreadsheet or a paper form?
For one small, low-risk building a paper or spreadsheet form is reasonable and accepted. A spreadsheet wins as soon as you want to sort by priority, reuse columns across sites or keep dated monitoring records. Multiple buildings usually push you toward a digital logbook so records stay current and searchable [2].

### How often should I revisit the completed template?
Review it regularly and whenever the system or its use changes: alterations to pipework, a change of occupancy, new vulnerable users, or after any control failure. Set the review trigger in the header block so it is never left to memory [5].

## Related reading
- [Legionella risk assessment basics: what it is and why you need it](https://legionella.io/articles/legionella-risk-assessment-basics-what-it-is-and-why-you-need-it/)
- [How to carry out a Legionella risk assessment step by step](https://legionella.io/articles/how-to-carry-out-a-legionella-risk-assessment-step-by-step/)
- [Writing a Legionella risk assessment report](https://legionella.io/articles/writing-a-legionella-risk-assessment-report/)

## Sources
[1] HSE, "Legionnaires' disease. The control of legionella bacteria in water systems - ACoP and guidance (L8)". https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/l8.htm
[2] HSE, "Legionnaires' disease: Technical guidance (HSG274)". https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/books/hsg274.htm
[3] BSI, "BS 8580-1:2019 - Risk assessments for Legionella control. Code of practice". https://knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/water-quality-risk-assessments-for-legionella-control-code-of-practice-1
[4] HSE, "Hot and cold water systems". https://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/hot-and-cold.htm
[5] HSE, "Legionnaires' disease - what you must do". https://www.hse.gov.uk/legionnaires/what-you-must-do/index.htm