An award-winning health and safety consultancy is encouraging greater awareness of water safety by offering a brand-new open online legionella awareness course for the first time.
Acorn Safety Services, which provides health and safety services to businesses, charities and organisations across the UK, is renowned for its legionella knowledge and has historically offered training courses in person.
This new remote learning opportunity provides an alternative option for people who are not nearby to Acorn’s Northamptonshire headquarters but want to better understand the legionella risk, follow UK regulations and safeguard their team.
Delegates will learn to identify, prevent and control legionella bacteria, meet ACOP L8 and HSG274 standards, and ultimately protect both their staff and premises.
Legionella bacteria present a serious and often underestimated risk in hot and cold water systems, cooling towers, spray systems, humidifiers, and other water outlets.
Without the right awareness and control measures in place, they can multiply rapidly and cause Legionnaires’ disease – a potentially fatal form of pneumonia. When an outbreak occurs, the consequences for any organisation can be devastating.
Businesses face legal action under the Health and Safety at Work Act, COSHH, and ACoP L8, along with heavy financial penalties, compensation claims, and severe reputational damage. Operations may be disrupted for weeks or even months while investigations and remediation take place, and most importantly, people’s health and lives are put in danger.
Acorn Safety Services Operations Coordinator Samantha Reeves said: “Proactive training isn’t just best practice — it’s an essential part of managing risk and fulfilling your legal responsibilities. Our Legionella Awareness Training course is designed to give you and your team the knowledge, skills, and confidence to manage water safety effectively and consistently.
“More than just a compliance exercise, this training empowers your organisation to take a proactive approach to water safety. It ensures your team knows exactly what to do, how to do it, and why it matters enabling you to demonstrate due diligence, protect people from harm, maintain business continuity, and build trust with regulators, clients, and the communities you serve.
“In short, it’s the knowledge that keeps people safe, protects your reputation, and gives you peace of mind.”
In the virtual online classroom the interactive sessions include scenario work, live Q&A, quizzes, and examples drawn from your sector’s water systems. Perfect for remote teams or distributed staff.
You can choose from open courses, where individual delegates join a scheduled session alongside others, or closed private courses tailored exclusively to your organisation.
Upon successful completion, each delegate receives a certificate confirming the legionella awareness training in line with ACOP L8, HSG274 and UK health and safety law. The certificate is recognised for audit, compliance and insurance purposes.
The course is ideal for duty holders, responsible persons, facilities managers and estate and maintenance operatives, landlords, building owners, health and safety officers and anyone else who works with water systems.
The first online session will take place on Wednesday 5th November and costs just £50 per person.
