Keeping a kitchen safe for the people who work in it and for the people who eat from it, involves more than just daily cleaning. Sure, daily cleaning is essential, but your kitchen also needs, deep cleaning, maintenance and a rigorous health & safety schedule. Is your kitchen getting everything it needs? TWO Services explains it all to us here.
Health & safety considerations
If people contract food poisoning after eating food from your kitchen, it not only puts their lives at risk, it can cause irreparable reputational damage too. And if your customers are more vulnerable to infections, such as the elderly, then a hygienic kitchen is even more paramount. Failure to follow food safety standards can have catastrophic results.
Get the basics right
Things such as well organised and clean fridges, properly regulated storage, and separate chopping boards for the preparation of meat, fish and vegetables, are important aspects to get right. And with increasingly stringent allergy policies, for avoiding allergen cross contamination, it’s about getting the basics right.
Deep clean your kitchen
Even if your daily cleaning schedule is rigorous, a kitchen needs to be professionally deep cleaned throughout the year. Kitchen staff and your own cleaners won’t be trained in high-level cleaning, and they won’t have ladders to access equipment.
Regular deep cleans can:
- Improve working conditions for staff.
- Prevent the spread of bacteria.
- Reduce foodborne illnesses, such as; norovirus and salmonella.
- Minimise the risk of pests in the kitchen.
- Maintain food and safety regulations.
Plus, regular deep cleans will help to protect your appliances from breakdowns, maintain their optimum performance and maximise their life expectancy. Imagine how the breakdown of a dishwasher would impact your kitchen. You can’t serve hungry tummies if you can’t wash anything up!
What will be cleaned?
A kitchen deep clean should clean and degrease every inch of your kitchen, including:
- canopy and grease filters,
- kitchen extract ductwork,
- all equipment, such as; ovens, fryers, microwaves and counters,
- food preparation surfaces, sinks and dishwashers,
- refrigeration units and freezers,
- ceilings,
- walls, and
- floors
Maintenance is just as important as cleaning
We can all think, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” at times, but not having regular maintenance on your kitchen equipment is a real gamble. Imagine having to close the kitchen, because a vital piece of equipment has broken down.
With regular maintenance visits, problems, such as a faulty door seal on the chiller, can be nipped in the bud. And you can avoid breaching health & safety regulations with poorly maintained equipment.
How often should maintenance be carried out?
It depends on the kitchen and the intensity of equipment use – how many people are being catered for, how many days per week and the hours a kitchen is in operation. At TWO Services, our maintenance plans are flexible and can be offered on a 6 or a 12-month basis.
What is checked during a regular maintenance visit?
A planned kitchen maintenance programme can cover all of your kitchen equipment, including ovens, dishwashers and chillers, and should include:
- inspections for wear and tear,
- necessary machine adjustments,
- checking gas ranges and carbon monoxide emissions,
- replacing worn components, and
- lubricating moving parts.
Ductwork and ventilation
Just because you can’t see any dirt, don’t assume that ductwork, extraction and ventilation systems are clean. If you haven’t had a regular ductwork clean by an accredited organisation to TR/19 standards, any insurance policies will potentially be invalidated.
Accumulated grease and oil build up fast, forming an unseen combustion load. Flash flame or very high temperature within the duct can ignite the grease, causing fire to spread rapidly.
What’s more, regular duct cleans will:
- help keep your energy bills down by as much as 35%,
- reduce airborne carcinogens and carbon monoxide,
- keep your staff healthier and more comfortable at work, and
- ensure you’re not at risk of prosecution under fire legislation.
We advise that ductwork checks are carried out quarterly, but at a minimum, every 6 months.
Combining maintenance and cleaning
Making sure that all of the above happens and that your kitchen is safe can be a lot to manage. So don’t forget that you can combine maintenance and cleaning.
Combined deep cleaning and maintenance helps you to:
- be more time efficient,
- reduce equipment breakdowns,
- limit the number of different people in the kitchen, and
- reduce the paperwork.
By choosing one supplier to provide both cleaning and maintenance, you can save time. Just one phone call to book in both services, one invoice and one point of contact.
Working with TWO Services
Very few other UK companies can give you the simplicity and convenience of one expert team who can take care of maintenance and ductwork, as well as cleaning. We offer bespoke cleaning and maintenance regimes where we tailor our approach to suit your finances and your schedule.
We work to the highest standards using an integrated management system. We’re accredited to BS EN ISO 9001, BS EN ISO 14001: 2004 to 14001: 2015 (environmental) and OHSAS 18001: 2007 (health and safety). And all our work is carried out in accordance with the European Regulations EC852/2004, the Food Safety & Hygiene (England) Regulations and COSHH. We provide certificates of hygiene after each clean.
If you would like more advice or information, call us on 0800 22 44 33 or visit www.two-services.com.
And for new customers, book your first kitchen deep clean with us and get your second half price. Just use the code ‘H&C’ when you call or use it in the form below and we will be in touch.
