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.