Legionella has been detected in the water supply of a building on the Lister Hospital site in Stevenage, the East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust has confirmed.
Legionella has been detected in The Old School of Nursing building, which is currently used by NHS staff, with no patient or visitor access.
According to the Health and Safety Executive, inhaling airborne water droplets containing viable legionella bacteria can cause legionnaires' disease - a potentially fatal type of pneumonia.
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A spokesperson for NHS trust said: "The Old School of Nursing is one of our older buildings at Lister and we are working with the landlord on plans to determine its future. The building is currently occupied by a small number of staff, with no patient or visitor access.
"As part of a routine monitoring programme, Origin Housing [which manages the maintenance of a number of Lister buildings] has detected some legionella in the water at the Old School of Nursing.
"The risk to staff who need to work in the building is low but, as a precaution, access to water has been restricted. Bottled water and toilets have been provided for those members of staff who need to work on site. We have also offered affected staff the option to work elsewhere, if possible, whilst a thorough disinfection and testing regime takes place.
"We have been open and transparent with our staff throughout the process and have regular meetings with them, where they can raise their concerns.
"Patient care is unaffected."
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