Should my legionella risk assessment be a PDF?
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Key points
- Our free legionella risk assessment template comes as an editable Word (.docx) file, because the assessment is a living document you must keep updating.
- A PDF is the fixed, dated snapshot you export from your completed Word version when you need to issue it to a landlord, client or inspector.
- Keep the Word file as your working master and treat every PDF as a photograph of one version, dated and named so it can be found later.
- Worked, pre-populated packs for specific building types are in development; the free Word template is the downloadable starting point today.
- Whatever the format, the file records what you found and decided. It is an indicative starting point: it records, it never certifies.
People searching for a legionella risk assessment template as a PDF usually want one of two things: a fixed copy they can print and hand over, or a form they can fill in. Those are different jobs, and the format that does one well does the other badly. Our free template is a Word (.docx) file, because the filling-in job matters more. The PDF is what you make of it once a version is complete.
The three formats, and what each one is for
It helps to be clear about the landscape, because "template" covers three quite different things.
- The free Word template (available now). The editable master, sent from our template page. It follows the five-step structure in ACOP L8, with sections for premises details, the water system description with room for a schematic, risk identification, people at risk, the written scheme of control, a monitoring log and a review log. This is the file you complete and keep editing.
- The PDF (you make it). Not a separate download, but an export you produce from your completed Word version. A PDF locks one version in place so it can be issued without risk of later edits. It is the right format for the moment you hand the assessment to someone else, not the format to maintain it in.
- The worked, pre-populated packs (in development). Building-type versions with the common risks for that sector already listed, a worked example showing what a completed section looks like, and industry-specific prompts for care homes, schools, dental practices, hotels and the like. These are being developed now; the free Word template is the available starting point, and it is an indicative starting point rather than a finished answer for any one building.
Why the master has to be editable
A legionella risk assessment is not a certificate you earn once and frame. It has to be reviewed regularly and updated whenever something changes: a new bathroom, a boiler swap, a tenant change, an outlet taken out of use. The review cycle is part of the duty, not an optional extra. If your only copy is a locked PDF, every review means starting again or annotating a file that was never meant to be annotated. The Word master lets you update the assessment in place and keep one continuous, dated record of the system's history.
There is a second, quieter reason. An editable file is easy to complete honestly. You walk the system with it, overwrite every generic line with what you actually find, and the finished document describes your premises rather than premises in general. Our guide to the Word version of the template covers that completion discipline in detail, and can I do my own legionella risk assessment helps you judge whether your premises is simple enough to assess yourself.
How to produce a PDF snapshot properly
When a version of the assessment is complete and signed off, export it rather than photocopying or screenshotting it. In Word, use File, then Save As or Export, then PDF. Three habits make the snapshot useful months later:
- Check the dates first. The assessment date and the next review date on the front page are the first things an inspector or insurer looks at. Export after confirming them, not before.
- Name the file to identify itself. A name like
RA-14-High-Street-2026-07-20.pdftells any future reader the premises and the version without opening it. A file calledtemplate-final-v3.pdftells nobody anything. - File it with the monitoring records. The assessment and the evidence that its controls are being carried out belong together. Keep the PDF snapshot alongside your log book and the monitoring schedule it refers to, because an assessment without the records behind it is only half a story.
Free legionella risk assessment template
A structured Word document following the five-step approach in ACOP L8. Covers risk identification, written scheme, monitoring, and records. If it isn't written down, you can't evidence it.
Follows ACoP L8 and HSG274 Part 2. Free. No spam.
What the PDF is good for, and what it is not
The PDF earns its place at the handover moments: giving a landlord evidence the duty is being managed, issuing an assessment to a letting agent or a client, or attaching a fixed copy to a tender or an insurer's questionnaire. Because it cannot be casually edited, it carries a little more weight as a snapshot of what was decided and when.
What it is not is proof of anything by itself. A completed template, in any format, records what the assessor found and decided on a given day. It does not certify the system, prove the water is safe, or make a premises compliant. The duty sits with the person in control of the premises, and the assessment is their record of how they are managing it. That is why the editable master and the review log matter more than the polish of the issued copy.
Keep the Word file as the living master. Export a dated PDF when you need to issue a version. Never let a locked PDF become the only copy of a document the law expects you to keep updating.
Where the formats sit in the guidance
Nothing in ACOP L8 or HSG274 prescribes a file format. What they require is the substance: a suitable and sufficient assessment, a written scheme of control, and records kept for at least five years. The format question is purely practical, and the practical answer is the same one the review duty gives you: edit in Word, issue in PDF, keep both for at least five years alongside the monitoring records they point to. If you are still deciding whether you need an assessment at all, start with do I need a legionella risk assessment, or build one directly in the free assessment builder.
Free legionella risk assessment template
A structured Word document following the five-step approach in ACOP L8. Covers risk identification, written scheme, monitoring, and records. If it isn't written down, you can't evidence it.
Follows ACoP L8 and HSG274 Part 2. Free. No spam.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a PDF version of the legionella risk assessment template?
Our free template is sent as a Word (.docx) file rather than a locked PDF, because a risk assessment is a living document you must keep editing as the system changes. The PDF comes later: once a version of the assessment is complete, you export your own fixed PDF snapshot from the Word file using File, then Save As or Export, then PDF. That gives you the editable master and a dated, read-only copy to share.
Should my legionella risk assessment be a Word file or a PDF?
Both, for different jobs. Keep the Word file as your working master, because the assessment has to be reviewed and updated whenever the system changes, and you cannot edit a locked PDF in place. Use the PDF as the fixed, dated snapshot you issue once a version is signed off, for example to a landlord, a client or an inspector. The Word file lives; the PDF is the photograph of a moment.
How do I turn my completed template into a PDF?
Open your completed Word file, then use File, Save As or Export, and choose PDF. Before exporting, check the date of assessment and the review date on the front page, because those are the first things a reader looks for. Name the exported file with the premises and the date, for example RA-14-High-Street-2026-07-20.pdf, so the snapshot is identifiable months later, and file it alongside your monitoring records.
Can I edit a legionella risk assessment template that is a PDF?
Not easily, and that is the point of the format. A PDF is designed to be read, printed and shared unchanged, not edited. Some PDF readers let you annotate or type into form fields, but that is a fragile way to maintain a document the law expects you to review and update. If the only copy of your assessment is a PDF, you have no clean way to record the next review. Keep an editable file as the master and treat every PDF as an export from it.
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