Heating and Ventilating

MY friend Roger Upson supplies restaurants in the south-east with washing-up liquid, paper towels and ancillary equipment for kitchens. He eats only in restaurants he supplies, and then only in certain ones.
He doesn't talk about it much but the inference is that he sees a lot of dirty kitchens.

The rest of us have to take our chances where we can, especially those of us who spend at least some of our time on the road. This is why Richard Norman of Indepth Hygiene's contractor profile is particularly interesting on a number of levels.

There are, he estimates, around 250,000 catering establishments in the UK. And there is that killer quote: 'Some 90% of kitchen grease extracts in the UK have never been cleaned.'

But he also goes on to talk about access panels - you don't talk about access panels for months and then two stories come along at the same time (See Ace Filtration page 30) - and the fact that, if you can see the grease extract ductwork from the outside, and there are no access panels, it hasn't been cleaned.

There is, Norman says, legislation in place. The Fire Safety Order is about human safety in buildings and risk assessment. And, he says, the biggest risk in a building where there is commercial cooking, is the kitchen grease extract.

Like all of us, Norman has an axe to grind, but can the rest of us afford to take the chance? And, if there were to be a fire and someone got hurt, then it would be about the responsible person. And, just like the Barrow-in-Furness legionella case, someone is to blame.

And the courts will go after someone. Norman thinks they will try the caterer, then perhaps the facilities manager, then the firm that rents the building (or its responsible person) or eventually the building owner.

They will get someone.

And of course there is the insurance. Perhaps I am a cynic but I see insurance as something which we have to have and pay dearly for. But the insurance company doesn't see it like that. It sees it as its job to find every excuse not to pay out, and greasy ducts are just what the insurance companies are looking for.

Norman says that increasingly, when a facilities company is involved with a restaurant chain, the facilities manager is aware and pushing for ductwork cleaning. Large caterers, too, are pushing for clean ducts.

Who wants to go to jail for the death or injury of an innocent bystander? But, more to the point, no one wants a death or injury on their conscience for the rest of their lives.

I, too, hope for an explosion of work for grease extract companies like Indepth Hygiene. The more grease extract ductwork is cleaned, the safer is our dining out. Perhaps I will ask my friend Roger to check the ductwork out too.

- HVR Editor Paul Braithwaite