Duct Work Cleaning: Ingot Services Gives Health and Safety Advice

Ten Ways to Improve the Health and Safety of Your Commercial Kitchen

Health and safety issues are vital in all workplaces, but there are special rules governing commercial kitchens. Duct work cleaning specialists Ingot Services have put together 10 tips to help ensure your kitchen meets the highest standards of hygiene and safety.

Assess Risks – Carrying out a risk assessment is a legal requirement, but it is also the vital first step in ensuring that the workplace is as safe as possible.

Training – Ensure that staff are fully trained in dealing with all the hazards in the workplace, including any aspects highlighted by the risk assessment. Training must constantly be adapted to any changes in equipment or kitchen layout, as well as any updates in the law. 

Maintaining Equipment – It's estimated that around 65% of accidents in catering are related to maintenance. This emphasises just how important proper upkeep of equipment is, especially in the case of gas and electrical appliances, where there are strict regulations to follow. Be careful during maintenance, as there can be a risk of accidents while this work is being done.

Cleaning Regime – Commercial kitchen cleaning is a vital daily regime, and essential for the health of staff and customers alike. However, the strong chemicals used for cleaning in a commercial kitchen pose hazards, and it is important to use all these substances correctly. Make sure floors are not left wet after cleaning, as many accidents are caused by slippery surfaces.

Fire Safety – All cooking equipment must be correctly installed and operated, including deep fat fryers which can pose particular hazards. Duct work cleaning is also part of fire prevention, as grease in HVAC systems can cause a blaze. You also need to ensure you have appropriate fire extinguishers, a fire blanket and smoke detectors. Sensitive detectors are now available which will not be set off by normal cooking.

Handling Equipment Correctly – Kitchen staff face many hazards during their working day, from chemicals and hot ovens to machinery. Accidents from knives are especially common, so it is vital that staff are properly trained in using and sharpening them. 

Heavy Lifting – Some kitchen equipment is heavy, and injuries can easily be caused by lifting or pulling items. It is important to be careful to avoid staff hurting their backs, and you could consider actions such as using trolleys where possible. 

Storage – Equipment, chemicals and food must all be stored safely and any flammable substances must be kept away from sources of heat. Cleaning chemicals should be kept in their original containers where possible, while knives need to be stored suitably and never left lying on surfaces.

Wear the Right Clothing – Covering or tying back hair in the kitchen isn't just important for hygiene, but also to prevent hair getting caught in machinery or posing a fire hazard. Staff should also wear the right protective clothing when handling dangerous substances.

Ventilation – One of the most vital health and safety measures is to carry out regular duct work cleaning. This will ensure that there is no build-up of dirt and grease which could pose a fire hazard and create hygiene risks. To comply with the law, this work must be done regularly and by professionals. Ingot Services are fully accredited HVAC specialists who can help you ensure that your ventilation system is clean and safe and complies with all relevant regulations.

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Making Health and Safety Positive – Duct Work Cleaning Professionals Ingot Services Share Their Secrets

At Ingot Services, as well as offering guidance on duct work cleaning issues, we are often asked for our advice on health and safety in the workplace. 

When it comes to workplace health and safety , the law is clear, and laid out mainly in the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. The extent of your duties will depend very much on your business and the aspects within it, for instance, regular duct work cleaning is a requirement by law if you have a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system within your workplace. But as a minimum, every employer has a duty of care to ensure that the workplace is safe and that safe working practices are adhered to. 

Negative associations with health and safety policies can hinder not only compliance with regulations, but can also endanger lives. So how can managers make sure that their employees buy into health and safety policies?

A Positive Health and Safety Culture

The culture of an organisation reflects how it operates – how, where, who, when and why things are done. The health and safety culture within an organisation does the same, describing how health and safety is managed, where it applies, who is responsible, when it applies and why policies are in place. Within the HSE document 'HSG65 – Successful Health and Safety Management' health and safety culture is defined as “the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies and patterns of behaviour that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organisation's health and safety management”. As with the productivity and success of business, to successfully implement health and safety policy, the culture has to be a positive one, and the key to this is communication.

Assessing Your Health and Safety Culture

Reviewing the culture of health and safety within your organisation, there are key aspects that can highlight either a positive or a poor culture.  These include:

• Are health and safety policies well communicated and understood?
• Is it clear how people should behave?
• Are health and safety systems complied with?
• Is management all on board?
• Is safety put above cost and productivity?
• Are health and safety systems realistic?
• Is the workforce involved in all aspects of health and safety?
• Are opportunities for improvement sought and implemented?

Once all of these areas have been evaluated, if a poor health and safety culture is discovered, positive moves to change this should be planned and implemented. Culture per se cannot be altered directly, instead, aspects relating to it, such as management backing and communication need to be enhanced. When it comes to gaining buy in for any culture, employee engagement is key and positive associations with the vision and values of the company will encourage buy in of all policies.

Reacting Positively To Health and Safety – Duct Work Cleaning Professionals Ingot Services

At Ingot Services, with duct work cleaning being a key part of adhering to health and safety law, health and safety is a key aspect of our business, and making sure that we have buy in from the whole team is essential. Putting health and safety at the fore, we safeguard our employees by ensuring that they are well trained to all of the latest standards, and our policies are communicated effectively. With buy in from the top down, a positive attitude to health and safety and the procedures and safeguards we have in place is clear.

Added to this, we ensure our duct work cleaning and other services comply with health and safety legislation – we are HVAC registered, as well as being a member of the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme and a Safe Contractor Registered company.

Duct Work Cleaning -  Find out more about our duct cleaning services

Health and Safety In Your Commercial Kitchen – Advice and Guidance from Duct Work Cleaning Company Ingot Services

During the course of our kitchen and duct work cleaning business, at Ingot Services we work closely with many commercial kitchens, and are often asked for advice on health and safety within them. So, as well as our kitchen and duct work cleaning, we are keen to help our customers by creating guidance on related issues.

Having a direct impact on the general public, as well as your workforce, health and safety within commercial kitchens is an important factor of day to day routine. From accidents, illness and fire, the risks within a commercial kitchen can result in minor injury right through to being fatal, and it is for this reason that health and safety laws are so stringent.

From Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs and the Food Hygiene (England) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and their equivalents in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as the Food Safety Act 1990 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 – these laws are there to protect not just your customers and your workforce, but also your own business interests.

Here are just some of the risks that can occur in a commercial kitchen, and how to help avoid them:

Equipment

Your kitchen equipment will range from knifes through to electrical appliances, such as food mixers, coffee machines and the like. Training for your workforce for safe use of all equipment is critical –as is ensuring you keep well maintained records of this. Protective equipment is also vital, and assessing risk together with your workforce will ensure that any special requirements are catered for.

Knives are a particular risk and it is wise to keep them well sharpened and to always cut on a stable surface using the blade that is suitable for the food you are cutting. They should always be handled carefully, especially when washing up and carried with the blade pointing down.

When it comes to your electrical equipment, regular servicing and inspection, including PAT testing every 1 – 5 years by a qualified electrical engineer, are essential. 

Slips and trips

Every year in the hospitality industry there are hundreds of injuries resulting from slips and trips. Once again, assessing the risk within your commercial kitchen provides the essential starting point for managing slips and trips – this will include checking the condition of the floor and repairing any damaged areas, as well as ensuring procedures and training are in place for cleaning and appropriate footwear, as well as for occurrences such as food spillages, water leaks and storage to ensure no trip hazards are left scattered around. 

Harmful substances

The cleaning chemicals used in commercial kitchens are often much stronger than their domestic equivalent, and are certainly needed in much larger quantities. Ensuring that your workforce is fully trained in using these is essential under Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH) as are evaluating the risk and putting a clear plan of action into place for controlling their use. Suitable protective clothing such as goggles and rubber gloves should be at hand and manufacturer’s guidelines for use should always be adhered to. 

Gas

From carbon monoxide poisoning to fire, gas equipment poses a big risk and should be treating with care. Your gas equipment should always be installed, moved or maintained by a properly qualified, recognised CORGI engineer, as required by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR). Training for your staff is once again vital, as is a daily inspection to ensure that there is no damaged pipework and that flame supervision devices are working correctly. 

Ventilation

Providing safe clean air for your workforce, as well as removing odours and steam from the cooking process, your ventilation will also help to prevent creation and build-up of carbon monoxide. As such, regular duct work cleaning is essential. In fact, it is a requirement by law to have your duct work cleaning carried out by professionals regularly, and this will also go a long way to preventing fire caused by the accumulation of grease and grime within the ducts themselves.

Ingot Services – Duct Work Cleaning and More

At Ingot Services, as well as providing services such as your equipment, deep kitchen and duct work cleaning, using our day to day knowledge and professional qualifications as a base we make it our business to support our customers and the industry in their continuing success. 

Find out about commercial kitchen safety, duct work cleaning  and more with Ingot Services.

Duct Work Cleaning - The Rules and Regulations Governing Commercial Kitchens

The food manufacturing and hospitality industry is highly governed by strict regulation and legislation through authorities like the Food Standards Agency (FSA), and industry watchdogs like the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Cleaning contractors who specialise in duct work cleaning are also represented through organisations like the B&ES (The Building and Engineering Services Association) previously known as the HVCA (The Heating and Ventilation Contractors Association) who rebranded on 1st March 2012.

These governing bodies have been set up to help independently safeguard industry workers and the general public against potential negligence. Commercial operators and contractors who service or clean kitchen machinery, in particular ventilation ducts, through duct work cleaning must also show they follow the health and safety protocols and procedures and have a solid understanding of it.

However, given this level of regulation, it is surprising to learn that up to 80% of commercial kitchens have never had their ventilation ducts cleaned. These ducts, if left uncleaned, become a potential breeding ground for some seriously nasty bacteria which in time can become airborne giving rise to potential health problems.

It is for this reason that there is strict legislation surrounding the cleaning of commercial kitchens. But if followed correctly, it leads to best business practice and a healthy environment in which staff can work and customers can dine in the knowledge that they are eating in a safe environment.

Whilst there is strict legislation there is in fact no specific law clearly stating how clean your duct work needs to be. However, cleaning companies that carry out deep commercial kitchen cleaning must follow or comply with the B&ES TR/19 standards as set out in their best practice guide. Any contractor who employees staff to carry out duct work cleaning must be trained in accordance with the B&ES green book training scheme, previously known as HVCA certification.

CHAS registered contractors such as Ingot Services have undergone the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme. This registration can only be awarded once a contractor has passed the B&ES inspection and assessment and is evidence that  they have the knowledge to comply with all relevant Health and Safety legislation.

A scheme such as CHAS goes a long way to help provide the hospitality and FMCG industry with the confidence that any contractor employed to carry out duct work cleaning in particular, has all the necessary training, qualifications and competence required by the regulations.

To find out more about how Ingot Services can help  ensure you fully meet all the rules and regulations governing commercial kitchens and in particular the health and safety around duct work cleaning call today on 0800 731 7892.

Degrease Is The Word – Top Tips To Keep Your Commercial Kitchen Extract Fan Spotless

 As commercial kitchen and duct work cleaning specialists, we are often asked our advice on aspects of health and safety, including cleaning the grease from extractor fans.

Keeping your commercial kitchen clean is an endless task, with many different aspects to consider. Cleaning the surfaces, floors, and the other visible areas within your kitchen are easily catered for with a daily and weekly cleaning schedule, but carrying out duct work cleaning for your kitchen extractor fan, with its many mechanical parts and hard to reach areas,  presents a much larger task.

Drawing up fumes, pollutants and airborne grease, your commercial kitchen extractor fan is a vital element of your safe and healthy workplace. Using duct work to take this contaminated air and remove it outside, the machinery inside consists mainly of heat pipes and fans, all of which need regular cleaning so that efficiency can be maintained, so that they don’t become clogged, and so that they don’t harbour potentially harmful bacteria.

Whether in a domestic or a commercial kitchen, keeping an extractor fan completely free of grease is near to impossible. But built up grease can be a big hazard, allowing dust and debris to stick to it and presenting the ideal place for bacteria to grow. Add to this the increased risk of fire from the fan overheating and it is clear to see the benefits of a regular cleaning routine.

Our Five Tips For Cleaning Kitchen Extractor Fans

1.   Regular, little and often

As is true with all cleaning, the more often you clean your kitchen extractor fan, the less effort and time it will take, and the lower the grease levels to be cleaned off each time.

2.   Cover everything else to avoid splattering

Sounds obvious, but covering the area underneath and for some distance around your extractor fan will ensure that the grease and grime you are cleaning off doesn’t fall and contaminate your other equipment and surfaces.  And you should wear protective clothing and gloves yourself – cleaning the extractor can be a messy job!

3.   Disassemble all the elements

Once you have ensured that the extractor fan is disconnected from the mains and any other power supply, your extractor fan can be taken apart and cleaned using the manufacturer’s instructions. The interior elements that will need cleaning will include the filter (unless it is a charcoal one, in which case it will need replacing), the fan (taking care not to get cleaning solution into any electrical components), and the light.

4.   Plenty of elbow grease!!

To degrease your extractor fan is no light weight task, especially as many extractors have highly polished or painted surfaces that will scratch should you use an abrasive cloth. Of course, with regular cleaning, less effort is needed each time.

5.   Professional kitchen and duct work cleaning

While methodical cleaning can make your extractor fan work harder and longer for you, it is also just as important to clean the entire ducting that carries the grease and contaminated air outside for you – ducting that is difficult or impossible to reach through ordinary access methods. So to do a full and thorough duct work cleaning job requires professional help from someone who has the right tools and mechanical knowledge to enable them to reach every part of your duct work. In addition, it is a legal requirement to have your duct work cleaning done regularly by professionals.

Ingot Services – Your Professional Kitchen Extract and Duct Work Cleaning Company

With a proven track record of over 25 years in cleaning commercial kitchens, at Ingot Services we work with businesses across the spectrum of industries. We are fully HVCA registered, as well as being members of the Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme and a Safe Contractor Registered firm. And when we have completed your duct work cleaning, we will provide you with a certificate, recognised by your insurers and fire authorities, to prove you have carried out your requirements by law.

To find out more about Ingot Services and our kitchen extractor fan and duct work cleaning services, please call on 0800 731 7892.

Legionnaires Disease – Advice on Keeping the Bug at Bay from Duct Work Cleaning Specialists

Legionnaires' disease makes big news, and how to minimise the risk of it is a subject we’re very often asked to advise upon when carrying out commercial duct work cleaning. Here we look at how this potentially fatal disease can arise in water systems and how regular duct work cleaning can minimise the chance of it arising in your premises.

What is Legionnaires' Disease?

Legionnaires is a potentially fatal infectious disease caused by the aerobic Legionella bacterium. A severe form of pneumonia, the symptoms of legionnaires' disease include flu like illness with tiredness, headache, aching muscles, loss of appetite, coughing, chills and high fever. But while infectious, legionnaires' disease is not spread from person to person, rather it is spread by contaminated aerosols – small droplets of water that evaporate very quickly – from a contaminated water system. Generally, breathing in these aerosols is the cause of infection.

So how do these aerosols become contaminated?

Legionella bacteria thrive in water – but not just any water. Widely distributed in the environment, legionella bacteria have been found in waterways, ponds and puddles, as well as in rain water, but they are mostly an issue when found in man-made water systems, such as in air conditioning systems, spas and swimming pools.

Why is Legionnaires' Disease Such Big News?

In the UK we are lucky that legionnaires' disease is a relatively uncommon illness – affecting an average of between 400-500 people a year. Although treatable with intravenous antibiotics, unfortunately around 10% of people, generally those in high risk groups, will die of complications caused by legionnaires' disease.

As well as the potentially fatal aspect of this illness, due to the way in which it is spread, legionnaires' often makes big news because of the size of the outbreaks, such as the summer 2012 outbreak in Edinburgh, Scotland in which three men died and more than 100 were treated for the illness.

Why Water System and Duct Work Cleaning Helps Prevent Legionnaires' Disease

It is for good reason that many questioned the link between the Edinburgh outbreak of legionnaires' disease and the current economic climate. In the UK we have strict legislation in place to ensure that water systems used for air conditioning in commercial buildings are subject to regular maintenance and professional duct work cleaning. But budgets for maintenance have been slashed in many businesses, sometimes prolonging the period between cleans – with potentially devastating consequences.

The two most important factors for preventing an outbreak of legionnaires' disease are to ensure water is either cooled to below 20°C or heated to over 60°C, and to keep the water from stagnating and free of impurities. With careful management, including regular air conditioning and duct work cleaning, risks of harmful bacteria, including legionella, are reduced significantly.

Ingot Services – Your Professional Duct Work Cleaning Company

Ingot Services are professional duct work cleaning company with over 25 years’ experience working with customers across the whole spectrum of industries.

To find out more about how Ingot Services can help minimise the risk of legionnaires' disease and other harmful bacteria with duct work cleaning call today on 0800 731 7892.

Health and Safety Risks in a Commercial Kitchen

According to the Health and Safety Executive, slips, trips, falls, manual handling, which can result in musculoskeletal injuries and exposure to hot, or harmful substances cause most accidents in commercial kitchens. 

So what can you do to minimise the risk of accidents in your kitchen?

Slips, Trips and Falls 

Most trips and slips occur due to wet floors, remember to:-

• Wipe up spillages and dry the floor
• Set up "wet floor" warning signs
• Cordon of areas if necessary
• Keep floors well maintained

Manual Handling

• Never push, pull or drag heavy items
• Ask a colleague for help in lifting heavy items
• Use a lifting device where necessary

Exposure to Hot and Harmful Substances 

Substances such as oil and other fluids are commonly found in  commercial kitchens. To reduce the chance of an accident:-

• Always ensure containers of hot liquid are covered when no one is directly working with them.
• Take care when working in proximity to hot liquids

Fire Risks

The risk of fire in a commercial kitchen is never far away so it is essential that all gas and electrical appliances are maintained and suitable for the job required. Another fire risk is grease build up on kitchen extract fans, for this reason insurers now insist that they are cleaned on a regular basis by a commercial duct work cleaning company.

How can Ingot Help?

Ingot Services – Specialists In Grease Extract Cleaning and Commercial Kitchen Cleaning.

With over twenty years of deep cleaning commercial kitchens and grease extract fans you can be sure that Ingot Services will clean your system to the highest standard and issue the necessary certificates and photographic evidence to satisfy your insurer.

Find out more about Ingot Services and your grease extract cleaning options.

The Role of Kitchen Deep Cleaning in Food Hygiene Ratings

Kitchen deep cleaning used to be something a food business could carry out in the background when it was convenient. But with the advent of the Food Hygiene Ratings Scheme kitchen deep cleaning looks set to take on a much higher importance and become, hopefully, a much more regular occurrence in Britain's restaurants, cafes and takeaways.

What is the Food Hygiene Scheme?

If you have eaten out in the last year or so you may have noticed the little green ratings stickers displayed in the front windows of pubs, restaurants and cafes.  What do they mean and do they affect your business?

The Food Standards Agency is rolling out the national Food Hygiene Scheme in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in conjunction with local authorities.

The scheme is designed to make it easier for consumers to choose places with good hygiene standards when they are eating out or shopping for food and includes restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafes, takeaways, supermarkets and other food shops.

Businesses are rated on the standard of their hygiene from 0 to 5, where 5 is very good and 0 means that urgent improvement is required. The rating shows how well a business is meeting the requirements of food hygiene law. It lets the consumer know what is going on behind the closed kitchen door, allowing them to choose whether to eat at that restaurant. The scheme also encourages businesses to improve hygiene, the aim being to reduce the incidence of food-borne illness.

Who will inspect my business?

If you own a business that sells food then you can expect to be visited by a food safety officer from your local authority. At a planned visit the officer checks that you meet the requirements of food hygiene law.  The officer will check:

·       How hygienically the food is handled – how it is prepared, cooked, re-heated, cooled and stored

·       The condition of the structure of the buildings – the cleanliness, layout, lighting, ventilation and other facilities

·       How the business manages and records what it does to make sure food is safe

During the visit the officer will explain to you or your manager what improvements need to be made and what actions you can take to improve your rating.

Any business should be able to reach the top rating and the rating is not a guide to food quality. You can let your customers know how good your hygiene standards are by displaying the rating sticker or certificate given to you by the inspector in your window or door.

How can kitchen deep cleaning help?

Kitchen deep cleaning can play an important role in achieving and maintaining a Food Hygiene Rating that your business can be proud of.

The cleanliness of your premises and especially your kitchen play a major role in a how an inspector will perceive and rate the hygiene of your business. It doesn't matter how carefully your staff handle and prepare food if the surfaces and equipment they are using are not adequately clean.

Daily cleaning is important of course, but over time dirt can build up in areas that can't be easily accessed – such as under appliances, in worktop edges and crevices and in equipment where there is inevitable grease buildup such as deep fat fryers and kitchen extraction systems.

Only kitchen deep cleaning can ensure proper cleaning of these areas. And only regular kitchen deep cleaning can ensure that dirt and grease never build up to a level that could compromise your Food Hygiene Rating.

While it's important that kitchen deep cleaning happens, it's also important to have a record of when it was carried out and, even better, to be able to show that you have kitchen deep cleaning scheduled in for the future. And that's where choosing a professional cleaning company is so valuable. As well as being able to carry out cleaning to areas and equipment that isn't possible in a daily cleaning schedule, professional cleaning provides you with independent documentary evidence of your efforts. Being able to show a history of regular deep cleaning and evidence that this history is set to continue, all helps to build confidence that what an inspector sees is more than just your business on a good day, but is your normal way of operating.

What if I am unhappy with the rating?

You have 14 days to appeal to your local authority if you think that your rating is unfair or wrong in that it does not fairly reflect the hygiene standards found at the time of inspection.

Additionally you have a ‘right to reply’ if you’ve improved hygiene standards since your inspection or if there were unusual conditions at the time of the inspection and you wish to explain this to your customers. This should be submitted to your local authority and it will be published with your hygiene rating at food.gov.uk/ratings.

You can also request another visit to get a new rating if you make the improvements to hygiene standards that the safety officer told you about at your last planned inspection. This needs to be done in writing and evidence of the improvements made must be supplied. Having documentary evidence of deep kitchen cleaning being carried out by an accredited professional cleaning company will clearly be helpful in this process.  The food safety officer will re-assess hygiene standards and give you a new rating – this could go up but it could stay the same or it could go down.

Ingot Services – Specialists In Grease Extract Cleaning and Commercial Kitchen Cleaning.

With over twenty years of deep cleaning commercial kitchens and grease extract fans you can be sure that Ingot Services will help you attain a “5” star food hygiene rating.

Find out more about Ingot Services and your kitchen deep cleaning options.