The CuAg event was organised to inform public health engineers about copper and silver ionisation as a water treatment modality for the control of Legionella and Pseudomonas. The evening event was on the 3rd March 2016 at The Building Centre in London and was very well attended. 2 CPD points were available.
Some great expert speakers were booked and the event itinerary ran as follows:
Professor K.Clive Thompson, chief scientist from Alcontrol laboratories is an incredibly knowledgeable scientist and has been in the industry for over 40 years, having written books and over 50 peer reviewed papers. Clive’s presentation was 40 minutes and he was able to educate attendees about the Legionella bacteria and how copper and silver ionisation can help to control it's proliferation.
Steve Vaughan is very well known in the public health industry, holding the current role of regional director at AECOM and is chairman of SoPHE and CIBSE. Steve is the public health technical lead and has over 25 year of PH design experience in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. Steve discussed considerations for the public health engineer when deciding to install a copper and silver ionisation system.
Byron Bedford is the managing director at ProEconomy. ProEconomy manufacture the Orca system for Legionella and Pseudomonas. ProEconomy have been successfully treating water with copper and silver ions for 23 years and at many high profile sites including the European Space Agency and Windsor Castle. Byron explained about how copper and silver ionisation works, European compliance (article 95), and was able to prove efficacy by demonstrating some client case studies.
Neil Edmonds from Tetra Consulting heads up the water services team at Tetra and is an Authorising Engineer offering consultancy for many NHS Trusts across the UK. Neil has responsibility for the effective management of the safety guidance recommended by the Department of Health. Neil joined us to talk about compliance and repercussions of poor design.
Our final speaker was Mike Ralph who is the Head of UK Engineering at Sodexo (formerly of Great Ormond Street Hospital). Mike was the estates director at Great Ormond Street Hospital when they had been successfully using the Orca for their Legionella control for around 8 years. When Phase 2A (the Morgan Stanley Building) of the GOSH development was being designed the decision was made to run the water at 43 degrees. They eliminated the need for TMV's and their costly maintenance. This building was completed in 2012 and they have successfully been controlling their Legionella by using The Orca copper and silver ionisation system ever since.
The event was very well attended and feedback for the event was good. Look out for dates for the next CuAg event!