The essence of an essential service company is to deliver when called upon. A Legionnaires disease outbreak in the Sydney CBD on the cusp of the new year put our NSW team to the test. Their response was not unexpected as they set to work disinfecting almost 200 cooling towers under our care. Under pressure, great teams pull together.
Building managers responsible for facilities in a large swathe of the Sydney CBD received an urgent notification on December 29th, 2025. NSW Health advised that there were four confirmed cases of Legionnaires disease whose common source was roughly believed to be in an area bounded by King Street in the south, Barangaroo to the west, Alfred Street in the north and Elizabeth Street to the east.
All buildings managers and owners were instructed to mitigate ongoing risk by immediately arranging for an online disinfection of their cooling water systems. The advice included a direction to review the operation of all water treatment and disinfection equipment to ensure it was functioning as intended.
These types of notifications are not uncommon in the warmer months and HydroChem has protocols in place to respond with the immediacy that our concerned customers expect.
“Events like this require a team response,” explains NSW State Manager Nathan Ruks. “Office staff are fielding phone calls, warehouse crews are preparing product deliveries and of course, it is all hands-on deck to perform the actual disinfection and inspection work.”
“This is a logistical challenge at the best of times, but the festive season adds an additional layer of difficulty. Summer holidays were postponed and, in some instances, interrupted, but I didn’t get a single complaint from my team.”
The HydroChem NSW team disinfected almost 200 cooling tower systems between the notification going out on December 29th, and the traditional Sydney harbour fireworks on New Year’s Eve on December 31st.
“Essential services are just that, essential, and our people intuitively understand this,” says the NSW state manager proudly.