Current affairs 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 frequently more familiar with
obvious items such as sprinkler systems, fire escapes and extinguishers, yet grease from cooking processes, which 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 cannot prove that it has maintenance strategies in place. TR/19 – Guide to Good Practice: Internal Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems, which is published by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA), is the ventilation hygiene industry’s primary source of guidance. 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 was recently updated and expanded to complement 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 for building occupants. Providing clarity about when and to what
standard grease extract systems should be cleaned, the latest revision also gives a detailed explanation of the frequency of cleaning required, based on the type of cooking and the hours of kitchen usage. The biggest issue for many ventilation hygiene companies is difficulty gaining access to the ductwork for cleaning, but it is not acceptable for them to say that a system was not fully cleaned because it was difficult to gain access. TR/19 clearly states that if access panels are required, they should be fitted by the cleaning contractor.
Impossible to clean?
Of course, the very nature of ventilation ductwork means that it is often impossible to access certain parts of the system – if they are hidden behind walls, for example. However, this must be clearly stated and explained on post clean reports. Also, in general most access issues can be solved
FOCUS
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