What is a Water Safety Plan?

In our previous guide to legionella risks at open air festivals, we briefly touched upon the value of water safety plans at events like these.

But what exactly is a water safety plan? How does a water safety plan work? And how can they help your business manage and mitigate the risks of your water supply?

What’s the definition of a water safety plan (WSP)?

A water safety plan (or WSP) is a strategic plan to ensure the safety of water systems and their ability to provide safe drinking water for the people that use them.

Water safety plans are primarily used by water suppliers, but they’re also widely used by private businesses. All business premises use water in some way or another, whether it’s simple hot and cold drinking water systems or more specialised water facilities; and a WSP can help your organisation ensure that all water systems within your buildings are kept safe.

And as we’ve already seen, a WSP is also invaluable when running large public events in outdoor sites.

The WSP concept was created by the World Health Organisation back in 2004; with the British Standards Institute later setting out best practices for developing a water safety plan in their BS 8680: 2020 – Water Quality code of practice.