Foodservice operators Need to prevent grease build up

Every 18 seconds, emergency personnel somewhere in the nation respond to a fire, according to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Thousands of these blazes occur in restaurants and other eating establishments. The culprit? Grease.

The majority of restaurant fires originate on the kitchen cooking appliances and flare into the kitchen exhaust system. Regular maintenance of a restaurant's kitchen exhaust system is one of the primary defenses against fire hazards. By keeping these systems working at their best, they will evacuate the smoke and grease out of the building and produce a cleaner, cooler kitchen and better working environment for staff.

"A fire may start on a cooking line, but it will really accelerate if there's grease built up in the hood and exhaust system," said Rod Getz, president of the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association (IKECA), a nonprofit trade organization that promotes standards for kitchen exhaust cleaning. "Grease builds up as part of the cooking process, providing fuel for the fire to exist inside the duct work. Every kitchen exhaust system should be cleaned on a regular basis."

Benefits of Regular Exhaust Cleaning

· Reduced risk of kitchen fires. .Enhanced working environment for kitchen staff.

· Improved ventilation for smoke and odor removal.

· Lower insurance premiums offered by some insurance companies.

· Compliance with local and national fire and health codes.

The frequency of the cleaning depends on the type of cooking and the volume cooked. IKECA strongly recommends not only just cleaning the hood, but the entire exhaust system. "That can be more difficult and in depth than cleaning just the hood," Getz added. “But if it's not completely clean, it doesn't provide any fire protection -it just looks nice." Getz, who also serves on several NFP A fire safety standards committees, said some businesses will try to save money by choosing not to clean or repair kitchen exhaust systems.

"In one instance, a restaurant was located in a condominium unit," he said, "and the fire got into the duct work and caused $30 million in damages to the building."

The economic impact from a fire can be devastating for any business, but steps can be taken to make kitchens safer by re- moving grease on a regular basis. Through its Facilitec business, Ecolab Inc., a St. Paul, MN-based provider of cleaning and sanitizing products and services, helps restaurants nationwide manage grease related problems by utilizing its kitchen exhaust cleaning services and rooftop grease containment products.

"Services like those we provide are a significant piece of an overall risk management program having to do with fire and fire safety," said Mike Gustafson, Eco- lab's general manager for Facilitec.

An average restaurant would need kitchen exhaust cleaning on a quarterly basis, but a high-volume or solid fuel cooking facility should be receiving service bi- monthly or even monthly, according to Gustafson.

"The longer you wait to clean the ducts, the more your risk goes up," Gustafson ex- plained, "At some point, if you don't clean it at all, you're likely to have a fire and you could burn your building down."

'POSITIVE'

EXHAUST CLEANING SPECIFICATIONS

Exhaust system cleaning shall include the interior of all accessible exhaust system ductwork and interior of exhaust removal blowers when accessible. Issues of exhaust system access must be brought to the owner's/facility manager's attention.

The International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association recommends cleaning be performed by companies making every attempt to comply with OSHA Standards and using trained technicians to provide positive cleaning to achieve the removal of deposited cooking by-product from the interior of the exhaust system.

Positive cleaning methods shall include but not be limited to the following processes or a combination thereof:

· Manual removal of solidified, semi-solidified or liquid cooking byproduct

· Low pressure application of USDA or facility approved detergents.

· Wash/rinse processes utilizing high pressure hot water cleaning.

· Wash/rinse processes utilizing saturated steam cleaning.

At the close of cleaning operations, exhaust blowers shall be restarted, all access doors utilized during cleaning shall be replaced and fastened, dampers positioned for proper exhaust airflow and electrical switches and system components returned to operable state.

Resultant mess generated during the cleaning operations will be properly cleaned up, job generated debris shall be placed into the appropriate job site refuse container, and the kitchen facilities left ready for use by the kitchen staff.

Certificates indicating the date of cleaning, the name of the firm providing service and areas not cleaned shall be provided for each cleaning of the kitchen exhaust system.

All services shall be performed in a workman like manner and shall comply with applicable standards as set forth by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association (lKECA).