Duct Work Cleaning: How Often Should Your Kitchen Extracts Be Cleaned?

Is Duct Work Cleaning Every 2 Years Enough?

As a general rule, the minimum requirement for duct work cleaning is every 2 years, but for many businesses a more frequent schedule is vital. As a business owner, you have a duty to ensure that extract cleaning is carried out as often as necessary to keep air quality to acceptable levels. How quickly ducts and filters need cleaning will vary, depending on the type of use and type of occupants. 

The Law

Current legislation states that duct work cleaning must be carried out at least every 2 years for general systems, such as air conditioning for offices. However, there is a more frequent requirement for yearly cleaning of kitchen extracts and duct work. Although "every 2 years" or "every 1 year" is often regarded as the guideline, the law actually says each premises must be assessed on its own requirements. That means you need to call on professional expertise to get the frequency of industrial extraction cleaning right.

Under fire regulations, as well as those covering health and safety at work, the manager of any workplace must take action to eradicate any risks or keep them to a minimum. These rules make it a requirement to check kitchen extract systems in order to find any possible fire dangers, and act to remove them by ensuring any grease build-up is regularly cleared.  

Reasons You Might Need More Frequent Duct Work Cleaning

If you work in an establishment which has high levels of airborne dust or grease, it is likely your duct work will need to be cleaned far more frequently than the legal minimums. This especially applies to kitchens where equipment such as deep fat fryers, grills, wood or charcoal burners is used.

According to expert duct cleaners, in some hamburger restaurants using this kind of equipment, especially those open round the clock, duct work cleaning may be needed as often as monthly. For some other fast food outlets, the suggested frequency is around every two months, while a 90-day regime may be appropriate for most restaurants and works canteens. In some smaller restaurants, six-monthly kitchen extract cleaning is suitable, but you should get expert advice to decide on the optimum schedule for your particular business. 

Other types of business where frequent industrial extraction cleaning is necessary include manufacturing works, such as printworks and those handling paper or textiles. Workplaces close to an external source of pollution, such as motorways, factories or chimneys, are also likely to require duct work cleaning at shorter intervals than the statutory norm. In these types of premises, where there is heavy use, of up to 16 hours a day, the typical cleaning schedule should be every three months. When premises are in use for between 6 and 12 hours, that may come down to six monthly. 

Greater frequency of extract cleaning is also advised in any establishment with vulnerable occupants, such as kitchens serving schools, care homes and hospices. Ingot has carried out air duct cleaning for a care home group in East Anglia for the last five years, and liaises with facility managers at each site in the group to ensure  cleaning is carried out at a convenient time. 

How Can I Tell What Frequency is Right For Me?

Duct cleaning contractor Ingot can inspect your duct work and give you advice based on the last cleaning date and the current level of build up. We will also take into account factors such as the level of usage and the environment.

If you are unsure over the best schedule, the way forward is to take advice from a professional cleaning company. This will help to protect you under legislation and will also ensure that your duct work will always be kept to an acceptable standard of cleanliness.

Duct Work Cleaning – Follow the link to get in touch.

Starting A New Catering Business - Some Tips

Starting A New Catering Business – Tips To Get You Started From Duct Work Cleaning Company Ingot Services

In the course of carrying out duct work cleaning and other types of cleaning for commercial kitchens, we at Ingot Services have gained an extensive knowledge of the elements that are needed to make a successful catering business, especially when it comes to setting the right standards in hygiene, health and safety.

Tips When Starting Your Commercial Catering Business 

Whether you are starting up from scratch or taking over an existing catering business, it can pay dividends to make sure that your business is run efficiently and effectively. Once you have registered your premises with the environmental health service – something which needs to be done at least 28 days before opening – making sure you have good working practices in place is paramount, especially for health and safety. You need to bear the following factors in mind:

General hygiene: Hand-washing and toilet facilities must obviously be hygienic and suitably situated, and there are special requirements including making sure that toilets don't open straight into rooms where food is prepared and having washbasins used only for cleaning hands, as well as a separate basin for washing food.  

There must be hygienic and suitable arrangements for waste disposal and other rubbish, covering it up properly to avoid attracting pests, while the regulations also cover ensuring an adequate supply of drinking water and making sure it can't be contaminated, for instance by water from your refrigeration system.

Another area which must be remembered is your heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and here regular duct work cleaning is vital to ensure that pipes stay clean and do not become clogged with grease and dust where mould and bacteria can breed. 

Food preparation: Hygiene is paramount in your areas for food preparation and you need to make sure staff are trained and supervised in handling food properly to avoid any risk of cross-contamination or other health risks. Any surfaces where food is prepared must be easy to clean, so you need smooth work surfaces which can be washed easily and any worn ones with corners where dirt can collect will not be approved. Facilities to clean all your cooking equipment and disinfect it where necessary are also essential, and both equipment and surfaces need to be cleaned and disinfected in between preparing different items, especially raw and cooked food. 

Insect screens are needed on any windows which open straight on to areas where staff prepare food, and any doors which are open a lot of the time will also need screens. Equally vital is hygienic storage of food at a safe temperature and in a place where it will be safe from pests. Fridges and freezers need regular checking to make sure they are at the correct temperatures, and chilled food should only be removed from the fridge for as short a time as possible before it is prepared. It's also obviously vital to make sure that food is thoroughly cooked before it is served to customers, especially with dishes like pork and poultry. 

Fire safety: There are strict rules to make sure commercial kitchens comply with fire safety, including ensuring that staff are properly trained in fire prevention and know what to do if a blaze does break out. You also need to have appropriate fire extinguishers to hand and keep them properly maintained. Smoke detectors are important too, and more sensitive models are now available which will not constantly go off as a result of normal cooking. 

By law, also, anyone operating a commercial kitchen needs to ensure that fire risk assessments are carried out and updated regularly. An important part of fire prevention is regular duct work cleaning, to prevent any build-up of grease and dirt which could be a fire hazard. Many insurance companies now require duct work in kitchens to be professionally cleaned at least once or twice per year as a fire safety measure.

Health and safety: Risk assessments need to be carried out regularly to protect both your staff and customers. The aim is to identify any hazards which could cause injury or illness and then decide on action to deal with the risks. In a kitchen this could, for instance, include taking precautions to guard against staff being injured by knives or cooking equipment. Cleaning ventilation systems is another element to consider here too, to avoid any risk of staff being made ill by bacteria breeding in pipework. 

There are numerous laws and regulations which anyone running a catering business needs to comply with, including the Food Safety Act 1990, Food Premises (Registration) Regulations 1991, Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulations 1995, Food Safety (Temperature Control) Regulations 1995, and Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, which include regulations on regular cleaning of HVAC ducts.

Ingot Services – Duct Work Cleaning and Kitchen Cleaning Services To Help Meet Your Regulatory Requirements

Ingot Services offers a range of services to help catering businesses to meet their regulatory requirements. We are accredited by three professional organisations and will carry out deep cleaning of your kitchen, including duct work cleaning, using the correct equipment, as well as issuing you with full paperwork and keeping records to show that you have conformed with the legal regulations.

Duct Work Cleaning – Contact Ingot Services for more information.

Ductwork Cleaning: Ingot Services Advises on Food Hygiene Ratings

5 Steps to an Excellent Food Hygiene Rating in 2014

An excellent food hygiene rating has become the new must-have accolade for food outlets everywhere – and ductwork cleaning is among the essential steps needed. Make 2014 the year to get this aspect of your business right. This is vital to preserve your reputation with new and existing customers and protect your business from negative publicity. As an expert duct cleaning contractor, Ingot can advise you on the best steps to take.

About the Food Hygiene Rating System

Anyone eating out in England, Wales or Northern Ireland will probably have noticed the “scores on the doors”. These are numbers displayed outside a catering business, which show its rating for hygiene. They range from 0 – meaning “urgent improvement needed” – up to 5, or “very good”. 

The ratings in Scotland are different, with companies either being awarded a “pass” grade or one of “improvement required”. Whichever system you operate under, your business should aim to achieve the top rating available. This will reassure your customers that food is handled hygienically and all possible steps are being taken to keep the premises safe, including meticulous kitchen extract cleaning.

1. Train all staff in Food Hygiene

It is a legal requirement for all staff working with food to have at least a Level 2 Hygiene Certificate in Catering. An Environmental Health Inspector will carry out an inspection every three years to ensure their knowledge is up to date, so you must ensure all members of your team regularly attend courses and are aware of any changes in best practice.  

It is also a good idea to have supervisors, managers and owners qualified well above the minimum, achieving a level 3 certificate, designed for anyone running a team of food handlers, or level 4, which equips workers to train others. This is not just a box ticking exercise to impress inspectors, but an important safeguard for your business and its customers. 

It is also good to give training to all employees, including waiters and bar staff, even if they are not actually handling food. This will ensure the awareness of hygiene runs through every level of your business.

2. Get staff on board

It is essential to tell staff about the food hygiene rating system and make sure they know how important it is to the business, and to their own jobs. You need to foster daily vigilance to ensure there is no danger of slipping into bad habits, such as skimping on kitchen cleaning or failing to schedule ductwork cleaning. Put measures in place to reward good hygiene and encourage people to spot and report any problems they might notice. Remember, your staff are your first line of defence in promoting good hygiene.

3. Review your regular cleaning regime

It is a legal requirement to have a properly documented cleaning rota, with adequate supplies of cleaning materials. However, what was a suitable cleaning regime when you started the business may not be enough as demands change. You will need to look at it again if your restaurant expands, you change the range of foods being served, or you buy different equipment and change the layout of your kitchen area. 

In the hectic atmosphere of a busy kitchen, with so many demands on your time, it is easy to put off reviewing your cleaning regime, but this is a recipe for problems. You must make it a priority to look at your daily routine and make any necessary adjustments.  

4. Back up with scheduled deep cleaning

Deep kitchen cleaning gives everyone a fresh start. Having this carried out regularly guards against hazardous build-up of dirt in areas which are not easily accessible every day, such as behind cupboards and appliances. Deep cleans demonstrate to staff the importance of hygiene and reduce the chance of problems.

5. Include invisible kitchen extracts and ductwork

Because kitchen extracts and ductwork can't be seen or accessed by staff, it is tempting to overlook the need for them to be cleaned regularly. However, these are potential sources of contamination, where grease, bacteria and germs can build up. If you fail to arrange ductwork cleaning on a regular basis, it can undermine other hygiene efforts. Dirty extracts and ductwork alone are enough for inspectors to withhold a good food hygiene rating, so you need to give full attention to these areas.

Ductwork Cleaning  – Click here to contact Ingot and find out more.

Duct Work Cleaning – Commercial Cleaning London – Kitchen Health and Safety

Duct Work Cleaning – Meeting Your Basic Health and Safety Responsibilities

As a restaurant owner, if you avoid duct work cleaning as part of your health and safety requirements, you are putting staff and customers at risk and could damage the reputation of your business.

Making health and safety a priority is a legal responsibility for employers and is designed to reduce accidents and provide a healthy work environment. The first step is to carry out a risk assessment to ensure that all the right safeguards are in place. 

Duct Work Cleaning

Although maintaining your duct work cleaning may not be one of the first things that springs to mind, the consequences of not doing so can be considerable, leading to a dangerous build-up of grease in the pipework. 

At a low level, avoiding duct cleaning can lead to staff sickness and lost work hours; but in the worst case scenario it can lead to fatalities, resulting from major incidents such as fires. By failing to tackle duct cleaning, you could face the possibility of legal action against you, which will damage the reputation of your restaurant, and may ultimately lead to business closure.

Duct work cleaning should be part and parcel of your risk assessment, and it is essential to assign a staff member with responsibility for this, which can either be you or a manager.  The cleaning work should to be carried out by experts, so it is important to call on a commercial cleaning company that specialises in this area – such as Ingot, which serves customers in London and across the UK. 

What Can Happen if You Don’t Meet Your Responsibilities

Staff off sick – Each year millions of work days are lost through work related accidents or illnesses. This can have a detrimental effect on your company as lost work days create a backlog that can be hard to catch up on. Small companies, in particular, rely on healthy staff to keep the business running. 

Damage reputation of business – If your staff or customers fall ill as a result of badly maintained duct work and air conditioning systems, this can have a knock-on effect on your business. Yet, organising the cleaning and maintenance is so simple to do: it just takes one phone call to the specialists who will take the worry out of your hands.

Risk of fatalities – Dirty duct work is a fire risk and can have potentially life threatening consequences. Contacting the experts in commercial kitchen cleaning can prevent fatalities and create a safe working environment. 

Insurance becomes invalid – If a fire breaks out on your premises and the cause is down to the lack of duct work cleaning, this can invalidate your insurance; the costs can be considerable and could ultimately lead to business closure.  

Potential court cases – If a staff member sustains a work related injury, this can leave you wide open to legal action.  However, having a regular maintenance programme will avoid this by showing that you have taken your health and safety responsibilities seriously, and will save money in the long run by avoiding pricy legal battles.

About Ingot Services

To find out more on how Ingot can help with your duct work cleaning and to obtain a free quotation for their services, telephone Ingot on 0800 731 7892 or click on the above link.

Ductwork Cleaning – Commercial Cleaning Contractors – Germs in Your Air Conditioning

Ductwork Cleaning – Ingot Services puts the spotlight on germs that can be harboured in your air conditioning duct work.

Germs, Bugs and Other Nasties that Can Thrive in Your Air Conditioning Ductwork

Whether you run an office based organisation or are in the hospitality trade, it is vital to the health and safety of your staff and customers that you organise regular professional ductwork cleaning. 

Air conditioning can harbour all sorts of germs, bugs and contaminants; so if cleaning and maintenance work is overlooked, this can create an unhealthy work environment and contribute to staff sicknesses and absences. 

Some employers put ductwork cleaning on the back-burner because they are worried about cost and don’t see it as a priority, but professional duct cleaning is essential for your organisation. As well as being important for the health of your employees, it also saves money in the long run as it prevents lost hours from staff off sick, so will help your business run more efficiently. 

Here are three contaminants that can be harboured in unclean air conditioning ductwork:

Mould and Fungi

Mould and fungi thrive in areas of warmth and high humidity and can be found in parts of the air conditioning duct work, such as the internal insulation, the coils, and in the air conditioning filters. Their spores are carried through the air, so mould and fungi will multiply if there are any leaks in the system. 

These contaminants can be detrimental to health as moulds produce mycotoxins, which are toxic to humans, and can cause breathing difficulties, allergic reactions, fatigue, mild fever or headaches in some people. 

To minimise the risks, it is vital to organise the services of professional commercial cleaners, such as Ingot, who will not only clean your air conditioning duct work, but also inspect it for leaks. 

Dust Mites

The existence of dust mites in a home or business isn’t down to the air conditioning system alone – as dust mites can be found everywhere such as in upholstery, carpets, and clothing – but having a thorough clean-out will help. 

Although dust mites are too tiny to be seen with the naked eye, the chemicals in their droppings can trigger allergies and asthma. 

So, the more dust there is in your air conditioning system, the bigger  the problem. Maintaining your system, and keeping the ducts clean, will help control the population and prevent dust mite excrement re-circulating throughout your business.

Germs and Bacteria

An alarming recent study in China showed 75 per cent of the air conditioning units tested had filters that contained the bacteria that caused Legionnaire’s disease, a form of pneumonia that can be fatal. 

A separate study, led by the European Respiratory Society in 1997, revealed that those working in air conditioned buildings were found to be two and a half times more likely to have breathing difficulties, than those who didn’t. 

It is important to prevent this by regular professional duct cleaning – as germs and bacteria trapped in dirty air filters will just be circulated around your office building, posing a health threat to staff and visitors. 

About Ingot Services

Ingot provides a full, thorough, and competitively priced ductwork cleaning service which also includes inspections and filter cleans. To find out more and to obtain a free quote, contact Ingot on 0800 731 7892.

Duct work cleaning – Disasters That Can Occur if You Avoid Good Kitchen Hygiene Practices

5 (Scary) Disasters that Can Happen if You Put Duct Work Cleaning on the Backburner

Don’t put your air conditioning and duct work cleaning on the back burner - that’s the message from Ingot! If you avoid calling on the experts for regular air conditioning and grease extract cleaning, the consequences can be devastating for your restaurant and your staff. With Halloween just gone, here are five horror stories that could turn into a real-life nightmare if you don’t maintain your duct work:

Don’t Get Burned

Did you know that as many as 6,000 fires are caused by cooking appliances in commercial buildings per year? Recent years have seen a number of high profile blazes caused by the lack of duct cleaning – including a fire in Brighton’s oldest Italian restaurant at the start of 2013. The sad fact is that fires such as this one could so easily be avoided with proper kitchen hygiene practices and regular grease extract cleaning. However, according to Erimus Insurance brokers as many as 80 percent of restaurants avoid this to cut costs. It just takes one stray spark to ignite the grease and the consequences could be fatal. 

Avoid Exposure to Disease

Lack of duct cleaning can create a host of health hazards, from the aggravation of existing allergies and minor breathing problems, to worse, potentially fatal diseases such as Legionnaires Disease, a severe form of pneumonia. The legionella bacteria are known to thrive in water, including manmade systems such as air conditioning systems. However, you can reduce the risk of disease and illness by organising regular air conditioning cleaning and duct work cleaning. 

Prevent Vermin in Your kitchen

As well as being a breeding ground for bacteria, dirty grease extract ducts can attract mice and other rodents – the last thing you want in your kitchen when the health inspector calls! Vermin can contaminate food with bacteria, such as Ecoli and salmonella, which can threaten the health of your staff and customers and could threaten the future of your business. 

Keep Your Finances Afloat

While some restaurant owners are worried about the initial cost of duct work cleaning, proper hygiene standards will save you money in the long run and prevent a possible disaster. Restaurants that don’t employ proper hygiene standards could face a fine or prosecution and, if a fire breaks out in your premises as a result of unclean grease extractor ducts, the chances are you won’t be covered by insurance.

Save Your Restaurant’s Reputation

If word gets out about poor hygiene practices at your premises, resulting in illness or an outbreak of fire, this can cause untold damage to the reputation of your restaurant and ultimately result in business closure.  

The best way of avoiding any potential disasters in your kitchen is by employing good hygiene practices, which includes regular air conditioning clean ing and duct work cleaning. Just contact the experts, Ingot Services, today on 0800 731 7892 for a free of charge quotation.

Ductwork Cleaning – Preventing Restaurant Fires Caused by the Build-up of Grease

Ductwork Cleaning – What Three London Restaurant Owners Are Wishing They Had Done

If you are a restaurant owner, avoiding good safety and hygiene practices, such as regular ductwork cleaning, can have catastrophic consequences – as three London restaurant owners discovered to their peril on the same day earlier this year (July, 2013). All of the fires detailed below started in the ventilation system, and London’s Fire Brigade warned that the likely cause of all three blazes was the lack of commercial duct cleaning.

At the start of the day, more than 20 fire fighters tackled a morning blaze in a Central London restaurant in Lisle Street. Station manager Charlie Pugsley said the fire started in the building’s ventilation system, and urged businesses to keep their equipment clean to prevent the build-up of grease and fat.

The nine people who were in the building at the time were uninjured in the blaze, which ravaged the building’s ventilation system and tore through part of the basement.

In the afternoon, 21 fire fighters took just over an hour to bring flames under control in a restaurant in Boundary Road, St John’s Wood; the blaze wrecked two floors of the eatery’s extraction system.

Finally, crews issued another warning to restaurant owners after four people escaped unscathed from a takeaway restaurant in Bartholomew Street, Southwark. The blaze - which occurred just over an hour after the second incident - was severe enough to completely destroy the shop’s ventilation system.

A spokesman for the London fire brigade warned restaurants to take heed and have the right measures in place for ductwork cleaning to prevent a build-up of cooking materials which can cause a fire.

How to Prevent Duct Work Fires

Unfortunately, fires caused by a lack of ductwork cleaning are not just possible in theory, but almost inevitable if the restaurant owners don’t have proper measures in place to eliminate the build-up of dirt.  

If grime and cooking materials are not cleared from the ventilation system, a stray spark can ignite the grease, due to the presence of flames and high temperatures involved in the general cooking process.

The consequences of poor hygiene practices can be catastrophic, as they will not only put staff and customers at risk, but can also cause damage the business as a whole.

Restaurants with ductwork that has not been cleaned by competent specialists also almost certainly aren’t insured in the event of a fire – so a fire could be more than just a temporary blip in your business.

However, restaurant fires can be so easily prevented by regular duct cleaning, and this is simple to organise. Just contact Ingot Services, the experts in commercial duct cleaning, who will take all the worry out of your hands.

About Ingot

Ingot provides a complete duct cleaning service which also includes inspections and filter cleaning. Give Ingot a call on 0800 731 7892 for a free of charge ductwork cleaning quote and get complete peace of mind today.