New Water Safety Program Helps Healthcare Providers Meet New Requirements to Reduce Legionella Risk

NAPERVILLE, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nalco Water, an Ecolab company, has introduced a comprehensive water
safety program to help hospitals and long-term care facilities meet new
requirements to reduce Legionella risk. The program helps streamline the
process to meet the current Survey and Certification (S&C) 17-30
requirements established by the Center for Clinical Standards and
Quality under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Legionnaires’ disease, a severe and sometimes fatal pneumonia, can occur
in people who inhale aerosolized droplets of water contaminated with the
bacterium Legionella. Outbreaks have been linked to large or complex
water systems in buildings such as hospitals and long-term care
facilities.

Per the new S&C 17-30 requirements, all hospitals, critical-access
hospitals and long-term care providers that participate in Medicare are
required to take specific steps to reduce Legionella risk in their water
systems.

“Healthcare providers are seeking a complete solution to meet the new
S&C 17-30 requirements,” said Michael Johannsen, executive vice
president and general manager of global light industries and water
services. “Our water safety program for healthcare is designed to
simplify the process to meet the standard and ensure ongoing compliance.”

Nalco Water’s water safety program for healthcare is an enterprise-level
solution that streamlines management of water safety risk across
multiple sites. It includes a professional risk assessment, development
of an ASHRAE-188 compliant water safety plan, training, sampling and
testing services, and an on-site emergency response plan.

The water safety program complements Ecolab’s broader healthcare
programs, which are focused on the prevention of healthcare-associated
infections and driving operational efficiency in acute care hospitals.
These programs include offerings for operating room turnover, patient
temperature management, hand hygiene and surgical instrument
reprocessing and surface disinfectants with EPA-registered claims
against pathogens including Clostridium difficile,
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, influenza and norovirus.

A charter member of the CDC-Elite proficiency program, Nalco Water
conducts more than 80,000 Legionella tests annually. For more
information about Nalco Water’s water safety plans and programs, visit www.ecolab.com/nalco-water
or email watersafetyinquiry@ecolab.com.

About Nalco Water
Nalco Water, an Ecolab company, is the
leading global provider of water management solutions and expertise to
maximize operating performance and minimize water and energy use for
industrial and institutional customers. Nalco Water’s broad suite of
industry-leading technologies and advanced chemistries are designed to
meet today’s complex water management needs.

About Ecolab
Nalco Water is an Ecolab company. A trusted
partner at more than one million customer locations, Ecolab (ECL) is the
global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services
that protect people and vital resources. With 2016 sales of $13
billion and 48,000 associates, Ecolab delivers comprehensive solutions
and on-site service to promote safe food, maintain clean environments,
optimize water and energy use and improve operational efficiencies for
customers in the food, healthcare, energy, hospitality and industrial
markets in more than 170 countries around the world. www.ecolab.com.

(ECL-P)

Contacts

Ecolab Inc.
Mesa Denny, 651-250-3273
MediaRelations@Ecolab.com