Since April 06 it has been an offence if systems are not maintained from a fire risk prospective and in the event of personnel injury or death from a fire associated with a poorly maintained system (section 17 of the RRO), charges of corporate liability or manslaughter may be brought against the kitchen operator (responsible person). For compliance with this regulation, Health and Safety Executive, Environmental Health Officers and Fire Inspectors will look for a maintenance routine that includes regular inspection of all ventilation systems to enclosed spaces. They will expect to see logs of the results of these inspections. Inspection frequency will vary accordingly to age and type of system: location and use, the results of the initial survey. Any assumptions and conclusions made should be documented and filed.

The need for cleaning will be determined by the initial inspection, risk assessments and frequency by the on-going inspections. The definition of ‘Clean’ may be taken as visually clean depending on individual circumstances.