This blog is developed from NIG Risk Assist to educate, inform and assist you in managing risks in the workplace. Use this blog to share with members in your organisation who use the kitchen to prevent accidents.

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Even if temperatures seem to have peaked, it’s still a good idea to examine your commercial kitchen’s fire hazards and determine what steps you need to take to reduce the risk of a fire endangering your workers and property.

Typical Reasons for Catering Fires

There are numerous components of labour done in kitchens that can potentially cause a fire to start, regardless of the size of your business.

Faulty cooking appliances, such as fan motors in extraction systems, can cause fires or sparks to start, frequently close to hot oils or fats. These may also ignite flammable deposits that are present in extraction ducts.

Inadequate or nonexistent gas appliance maintenance can potentially result in fire and explosion. Make sure that competent individuals do a yearly examination and maintenance of gas appliances, including the regular cleaning of ventilation filters and ducting, to prevent such fires.

Common Fire Hazards in Kitchens

Catering businesses can have a lot of fire hazards due to the presence of various heat sources and combustible products.

Deep-fat fryers, slow cookers, and high temperature cooking oils are all common in commercial kitchens, and they can all provide difficulties for maintaining a secure working environment that complies with health and safety regulations. The use of hot oils and fats and the potential for overheating pose the biggest fire danger in any industrial kitchen. This might be the result of an operator error or a problem with the kitchen appliances, like broken thermostatic controls.

In addition to being subject to CoSHH (Regulation of Substances Hazardous to Health) control requirements, several chemicals used in routine cleaning regimens, like Caustic Soda, may also be combustible in specific circumstances. (If cleaning is being done, make sure to follow the PPE and cleaning residue recommendations on the Safety Data Sheet.)

Kitchen Fire Suppression Systems

Under these working circumstances, Fire Suppression Systems (FSS) can guarantee a secure workplace by immediately spotting and putting out canopy and range fires with cutting-edge extinguishing agents created to successfully put out kitchen fires. They can also minimise damage, allowing the kitchen to resume normal operations as soon as the fire has been safely put out.

The kitchen area, including ducts and plenums, as well as all cooking appliances like deep fat fryers, woks, griddles, salamanders, chain broilers, and more, are protected by automatic pre-engineered systems known as FSSs.

They operate by automatically spotting and putting out range and canopy flames. They can also drastically lower the price of insurance for commercial and industrial kitchens. In fact, your insurer may require the installation and upkeep of a fire suppression system before offering insurance coverage. To ensure system functionality and adherence to British and European Standards, the insurer may additionally demand biannual maintenance.

Inspection and Maintenance for Ventilation Systems

In order to prevent grease from being deposited on the structure or nearby properties, commercial kitchens use an overhead canopy and ducting system for grease extraction. The system can be made of stainless steel or galvanised steel, with all seams and joints being liquid tight. Its smooth surfaces make cleaning easier and allow for the installation of lighting fixtures.

The following requirements are typically met by ducting systems:

  • Ducting that travels through fire compartment walls should be equipped with automated fire dampers that require ongoing maintenance and are protected to the same fire resistance standards as the walls.
  • When possible, any combustible material near the ducting should be removed for at least 150mm and backfilled with something non-combustible.
  • Combustible floor or ceiling gaps should not be traversed by ducts or used as a storage space for them.
    For ease of cleaning, bends that could accumulate residue must be eliminated from the design or, at each change in direction of the duct, provided with an entrance with a grease-tight cover.
  • Mesh-type filters are not recommended because they provide no flame protection.
  • Filters or grease-removing equipment that complies with LPS 1263 should be installed.

See the link to the standard document, which is provided below, for the requirements for the LPCB approval and listing of the fire performance of grease filters used in commercial kitchen exhaust systems.

Additionally, according to the Heating & Ventilation Contractors’ Association (HVCA) standard TR/19 Internal Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems, your insurance might advise cleaning the kitchen extraction ducting.

Insurance companies have reservations about the calibre of ductwork cleaning. The National/Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB)* is trying to collaborate more closely with insurers to promote the usage of authorised duct cleaning businesses nationwide in an effort to boost standards.

There are presently four national businesses that offer coverage throughout the UK that have been authorised to the standard (LPS2084).

* The Loss Prevention Certification Board (LPCB) is an independent certification body operated by BRE Global. It provides third party approval of the fire and security performance of products and services to a range of global standards including its own Loss Prevention Standards (LPS).

In Summary

As the owner of a commercial kitchen, take time to review the fire risks in your workplace, and look at ways in which you can improve safety and protect your people and property.

Remember: be sensible, be alert and do not let poor housekeeping or negligence be the cause of fire in your kitchen.

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Talbot Jones Ltd is a family-run Chartered Insurance Broker specialising in Third Sector and Professional risks. Get in touch for free insurance advice, review or quotation.

Talbot Jones Ltd incorporates March Insurance Services, a Chartered Insurance Broker specialising in Agricultural and Hospitality Risks.