BEWARE THE FIRE RISK FROM POORLY MAINTAINED KITCHEN VENTILATION SYSTEMS
Poorly maintained kitchen ventilation systems can pose a real risk of fire. Closer scrutiny by insurers means they may even refuse to pay out in the event of a claim. B&ES, the Building & Engineering Services Association, addresses this issue with important advice for building owners and operators.
13 February 2014 – The Government recorded 2,500 fires in public and private catering establishments last year and, according to the forensic fire investigation firm Burgoynes, 25% of the fires they investigated were made much worse by the fact the extract ventilation systems were poorly maintained.
Ventilation ductwork is a key area of potential fire risk and too many systems have failed to meet fire safety guidelines in the past – often due to irregular or complete absence of maintenance.
Roderick Pettigrew, Chief Executive of B&ES, the Building & Engineering Services Association, comments, “In many cases where a fire has been traced back to the kitchen extract system it has never been cleaned since the ductwork was installed. Insurance providers are growing increasingly concerned about the risks involved with covering commercial kitchens; premiums are rising and they are using poor maintenance of ventilation extract systems as grounds for refusing to pay out because they can assert that warranties have been breached due to lack of proper cleaning regimes”.
Mr Pettigrew points out that the risks are clear – if there is a coating of grease inside the ductwork it will act as a highly efficient transmitter of heat and flames through the ductwork wherever it is routed throughout the rest of the building – all it needs is an ignition source and kitchens have plenty of those. Often a fire will start inside the ductwork simply because the temperature becomes high enough to ignite the grease.
“This is a pressing issue for all building operators as the insurance industry is alarmed by the high cost of claims that result from commercial kitchen fires. Pay outs rose dramatically following the start of the economic downturn in 2008, reaching a peak of £1.3bn in 2009, and were only marginally lower at £1.2bn in 2010 according to insurance industry figures” said Mr Pettigrew.
The cleanliness of extract ventilation systems is seen as central to strategies for managing fire risks with insurers calling for ventilation systems to be cleaned to the standards set in the guidance provided by the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES): Good Practice for Ventilation System Hygiene (TR/19); and the RISC Authority publication: ‘Recommendations for fire risk assessment of catering extract ventilation’ (RC44), published by the Fire Protection Association (FPA).
B&ES say that some insurers have already said that unless operators adhere to this type of strict criteria, commercial kitchens may effectively become uninsurable.
“Many insurance providers do not cover restaurants as comprehensively as they used to; they write in a lot of caveats to their policies, so building owners may find their claims are rejected because they have failed to maintain the ventilation or simply cannot prove that they have maintenance strategies in place,” adds Mr Pettigrew.
The Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) has called for thorough auditing of contractors to make sure only competent people clean ventilation systems. Insurance providers will always look to mitigate their losses; if they find that crucial maintenance work has not been not carried out at all or undertaken by untrained operatives they have grounds to contest a claim.
In conclusion Mr Pettigrew said, “We would recommend that systems are cleaned and re-commissioned at least every 12 months; however some systems may need to be cleaned even more frequently than this due to the cooking type and usage”.
Copies of the B&ES ‘Guide to Good Practice – Internal Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems’ (TR19) are available from the B&ES Publications Unit in Penrith on 01768 860405 or via the B&ES website at: http://www.b-es.org.
Ends
Issued on behalf of the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES) by Next Step Marketing Ltd
Media enquiries to: Heather Lambert. Tel: 44(0)1256 472020;
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Note to Editors
Since its formation in 1904, B&ES, the Building & Engineering Services Association (formerly the HVCA) has represented the interests of companies engaged in a wide range of building and engineering services disciplines.
B&ES helps its members to build successful businesses by being the leading trade association for integrated building and engineering services and renewable technologies. It is a unifying force that promotes and monitors excellence; provides quality advice, guidance, training and support; generates market-leading thinking; and shapes the commercial environment through active representation.
B&ES members are subject to regular, third-party inspection and assessment of their technical competence and commercial capability, carried out by an independent certification body at least every three years.
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