UL Unveils Drinking Water Quality Program for Health Care Facilities
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) recently announced its new Water QualityCheck™ program, which seeks to help managers of public or private facilities to identify and assess risks associated with drinking water quality.
Because water quality is of such importance in health care facilities, UL is initially focusing the program in this area. By partnering with UL, facility managers may now be more proactive in assessing water quality risks such as Legionella, as well as other potential contaminants. UL plans on extending the Water QualityCheck program in the future to other facilities such as hotels, resorts, offices and manufacturing plants.
The Water QualityCheck program specifically monitors and tests for biological and chemical contaminants in a facility's water supply that may have been previously overlooked, UL officials said.
"UL's Water QualityCheck program is specifically designed to help health care facilities proactively identify potential water quality issues," said Ann Marie Gebhart, UL Water Program Director. "UL developed this program based on requests and input from the health care industry."
Current maintenance practices at health care facilities may not be sufficient to prevent waterborne infections and illness, according to UL. Health care facility managers may only discover a problem with their facility's water after a public health problem occurs. By partnering with UL, health care facilities are proactively identifying and assessing risks associated with their water quality and increasing patient and employee confidence in their water quality.
Facilities that partner with UL for this new program will benefit from a comprehensive audit and analytical assessment designed to help identify potential water quality issues. Health care facilities that meet all the requirements of this program will be authorized to display a certificate of compliance with UL's Water QualityCheck program.
For more information on UL's Water QualityCheck program, visit www.ul.com/water.