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Industry facing major kitchen safety challenge
challenge
With the spotlight firmly fixed on fire safety in buildings following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, building owners and operators are becoming increasingly aware of the high risks posed by poorly cleaned and maintained ventilation systems in commercial kitchens, says BESA membership director Wayne Terry
W
ith the spotlight firmly fixed on fire safety in buildings following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, building owners and operators are
becoming increasingly aware of the high risks posed by poorly cleaned and maintained ventilation systems in commercial kitchens, says BESA membership director Wayne Terry (pictured above). The need to provide a safe working environment for staff; reduce fire risks; and avoid contamination of food preparation areas are all reasons why ductwork and kitchen extract cleaning now sits at the top of the agenda for many building owners. All employers are subject to health & safety at work legislation, which requires them to maintain conditions in occupied spaces that protect the well- being of their staff. Building owners also face rising costs and more stringent conditions imposed on them by insurers concerned about fires being spread through poorly maintained ventilation systems. Around a quarter of the 24,000 accidental fires in UK non-domestic buildings each year are caused by cooking appliances. London Fire Brigade reports the outbreak of, at least, one fire every day in a commercial kitchen in the capital. They also confirmed that 90% of fires in catering premises are intensified by ignition of deposits inside grease extract ductwork.
It is not surprising; therefore, that grease extract duct cleaning is the fastest growing area of the ventilation hygiene industry. However, while standards are improving, there continues to be a large number of commercial kitchen fires exacerbated and spread – even into neighbouring buildings – by poorly maintained and cleaned ventilation ductwork.
Responsible
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO), which came into force in 2006, stipulates that a ‘responsible person’ must ensure all components of the fire safety system in a building are kept in
“efficient working order” and “good repair”. They must carry out a fire safety risk assessment and then put a planned maintenance regime in place. Failure to meet the requirements of the RRO can lead to fines of up to £10,000 and two years in prison for the designated responsible person. Prohibition notices can close a business down if the local fire officer is not satisfied that the right measures, including regular testing and maintenance of all system parts, are in place. That seems clear enough, but in a large
percentage of cases the ventilation system is ignored because the designated fire risk assessor does not recognise it as part of the fire safety system. They are more familiar with more obvious items
like sprinkler systems, fire escapes and extinguishers, but grease from cooking processes that coats the inside of ductwork very quickly becomes a highly efficient medium for transmitting fire throughout a building. Often a fire will start inside the ductwork simply
because the temperature becomes high enough to ignite the grease – and it can then spread to other parts of the building (or other buildings) with potentially catastrophic results. Many UK insurance providers now put conditions and warranties in their policies that can lead to claims being rejected on the grounds that the building operator has failed to maintain the ventilation effectively – or, simply, can’t prove that they have maintenance strategies in place. The ventilation hygiene industry’s primary source of guidance is TR/19 – a Guide to Good Practice; ‘Internal Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems’, which is published by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA). Since it first appeared in 1998,
TR/19 has been widely accepted within the building engineering services sector and by the UK insurance industry as the standard to which ventilation systems should be cleaned. The guiding principle of TR/19 is that a defined,
measurable level of cleanliness should be achieved to improve safety and comfort in buildings. It complements the British and European Standard BS EN 15780: ‘Ventilation for Buildings – Ductwork – Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems’, which highlights the important role ventilation hygiene plays in maintaining healthy indoor conditions. TR/19 provides clarity about when and to what
standard grease extract systems should be cleaned, and provides a detailed explanation of the frequency of cleaning required based on the type of cooking and the hours of kitchen usage. The problem is that the booming grease extract
market has attracted some of the ‘wrong’ kind of cleaners who really do not understand ductwork; their responsibilities; or the importance of delivering clean systems, good advice and proper post-clean reporting.
Robust
Ensuring a robust process to verify the quality of cleaning, particularly of grease extract systems used by commercial kitchens, has become a priority element within maintenance strategies in thousands of buildings up and down the country. BESA has responded by launching a registration scheme to help building managers select appropriately qualified companies able to provide a full professional service.
12 September 2018
www.heatingandventilating.net
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