Thursday 14 November 2013

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 cleaningJust contact the experts, Ingot Services, today on 0800 731 7892 for a free of charge quotation.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

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.