Tuesday, August 2, 2011

KITCHEN FIRE SAFETY

When it comes to preventing commercial kitchen fires, your greatest primary defenses are cleaning and maintenance.

Fire prevention
Prevention is critical when it comes to fire safety, especially in areas where fires can start easily due to cooking methods such as grease frying, grilling, and/or open-flame cooking.  Here are guidelines that will help prevent a commercial kitchen fire from occurring:

  • Pull down and clean filters in the cooking exhaust hood frequently -
    1. every day for solid fuel grills
    2. every two days for open meat-cooking grills
    3. every two to three days for high volume deep fat frying
    4. every fur to five days for all other cooking
  • Wipe down and clean the inside of the hood, fire suppression nozzles, and back splash daily to reduce grease buildup.
  • Contract with a service company to schedule hoods and duct cleaning every quarter to remove grease buildup on the ductwork.  (Low volume operations with no grill and light grease cooking may choose to do this every six months.)
  • Contract with a service company to schedule inspection and any necessary repairs to the fire suppression equipment every six months.
  • Verify that your cooking fire suppression system is a wet chemical UL 300 rated system.
  • Train employees to use caution when near ignition sources such as grills, woks, fryers, etc.

Again, remember that prevention is the key.  If a fire never starts, there will be no damage.

Fir response
If a fire does start in the cooking area, employees who have been trained to respond effectively are your best method of curtailing damage and possibly saving your business.  Your employees should be prepared to:

  • Call the fire department immediately
  • Manually activate the fire suppression system if the system has not activated automatically
  • Locate and turn off the emergency fuel shut-off switches
  • Locate and properly use the portable fire extinguishers (Class K extinguisher for grease fires verses the traditional ABC extinguisher for all other types of fires)
  • Remember the details of the emergency Action Plan, including where to gather in the event of an evacuation.
The most important tip to know regarding fire safety response is that training is the best thing you can do to protect your employees, property and business.  Simple instruction is most likely not sufficient when dealing with fires.  Recurring, hands-on training in how to use fire extinguishers will be of more benefit than telling an employee once, on the day of hire, to use a fire extinguisher if needed.