Cleanliness and fire safety is an essential ingredient in a well managed kitchen. At the heart of the matter lays your kitchen grease extract system, an area for grease and oil deposits to build up within the canopy and other associated components causing a potential fire risk, in which around 70% of commercial kitchen fires, originate from faulty ventilation that has grease build ups. Keeping canopy hoods and filters regularly cleaned as part of a kitchen cleaning regime is the easy part. But what happens to the ductwork and the fans, the part’s you can’t see?

Around 70% of all commercial kitchen fires originate from poorly maintained grease extract systems. The results of such fires can be life changing in which there could be a strong possibility that insurance companies won’t pay out if there is no evidence that a cleaning regime of the grease extract system is in place. There are regulations and guidance’s in place which are The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations and TR/19. Within these regulations, it places a very strict ‘duty of care’ on the manager of the premises to assess the fire hazards in which the cleaning of the extractor fan is a legal requirement. Preventative and protective measures will need to be in place to ensure compliance. The grease extraction cleaning should be carried out every 3, 6 or 12 months dependant on the amount of use.