Safe and compliant commercial kitchens
Customers to serve and money to make means ensuring your commercial kitchen is safe and compliant at all times.
Here are just a few of the areas you’ll need to consider if you want to ensure your workspace meets all relevant UK safety standards and regulations.
Keep tabs on your kitchen’s hygiene
You don’t need us to tell you that good hygiene is vital to the success of any kitchen – so you certainly need to make sure you have your kitchen hygienically cleaned on a regular basis. After all, how would your customers feel if they knew your kitchen hadn’t been deep cleaned for over 12 months? And would you be willing to risk an unexpected (and unsuccessful) visit from the EHO?
Frequent cleans will help to:
- Reduce the spread of bacteria, viruses, and foodborne diseases at your facility
- Reduce cross-contamination
- Reduce the risk of pests
- Extend the life of your kitchen equipment
- Increase your hygiene rating
- Keep your customers happy
Waste should be stored in designated areas to prevent cross-contamination. Staff should close all food bins in between use, and make sure they are emptied regularly. It’s also important to dispose of grease in the right way.
We always recommend installing grease traps to prevent food, solid waste, and fats, oils, and grease from clogging up your drainage system.
Service your equipment once or twice a year
If your kitchen equipment fails, your operations will be put on hold. Aside from the financial implications of running a reduced menu or closing the pass entirely, you could also expose your staff and customers to unnecessary hazards.
From your ovens to your fridges and freezers, every piece of kit in your commercial kitchen needs to be inspected and serviced to make sure it’s running safely and efficiently. Our planned kitchen maintenance services are incredibly flexible, and our Gas Safe and F gas approved engineers will be able to make sure any potential problems are caught before they snowball into larger scale repairs or replacements.
Look after your extraction and ventilation systems
Your extractors are there to remove all the dirt and grease that’s generated from cooking. If they’re not cleaned frequently, all these nasties will build up and prevent the extraction from working properly, not to mention create a fire risk.
At TWO Services, we don’t just give your canopies and filters a quick once-over. We’ll clean your entire ductwork and ventilation system to BESA TR19 standards – even the parts that are notoriously hard to reach. We can carry out this work as part of your annual kitchen deep clean.
You can’t cut corners when it comes to ensuring your gas appliances are correctly maintained. Let our team know if you need help installing, testing or servicing your gas-connected appliances.
We have recently acquired a series of commercial gas qualifications that allow us to install, test and purge all the pipework that’s downstream of a meter.
We also have the skills to install and repair interlock gas systems. If you haven’t considered fitting an interlock system at your premises, it’s something you’ll need to think about – especially as your kitchen requires an interlock device in order to be registered as Gas Safe and compliant with BS 6173. These systems monitor the airflow in your kitchen and play an important role in reducing explosions and preventing carbon monoxide leaks that might occur due to faulty extractor fans or dangerous gas levels.
And remember, our engineers will provide you with a Gas Safe certificate after your annual gas test, at no extra cost.
Fire exits and safety points need to be clearly marked, so your staff and customers know how to leave the building safely if a fire breaks out in your kitchen.
We would always recommend installing an ANSUL® kitchen fire suppression system, which will spray a low pH liquid onto cooking surfaces, filters, and the exhaust duct system to create a fire-free zone.
And lastly, your staff will need to be trained in fire safety measures to comply with the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
Maintain your electrical equipment and systems
Water spills, grease build-ups, worn electrical cords, outdated appliances – all of these could lead to electrical hazards that compromise the safety of your kitchen. Aside from making sure your electrical system conforms to the wiring regulations set out in BS 7671, you should also ensure all portable electrical equipment has been PAT tested to prove it’s been well maintained and is in a safe condition to use. Our team can carry out PAT tests outside your usual operating hours, so you don’t need to worry about any disruption on the day. We’ll document everything that’s been checked and provide guidance on when these appliances need to be tested again.
Consider greater Covid prevention measures
The pandemic is far from over. Covid is still rife in UK workplaces, so if you have had an outbreak recently – or are concerned that a member of staff may have been exposed to the virus – ask us about our fog sanitisation service. It only takes our team fifteen minutes to disinfect all the hard surfaces in your kitchen and eradicate all the nasty bugs that might be hanging around, and the effects of the treatment last for up to 30 days.
How TWO Services can help
We’re unique in that we offer deep cleaning, servicing and maintenance solutions for all types of commercial kitchens, all under one roof. We use an integrated management system to complete all our work to the highest possible standards and ensure all your safety and compliance requirements are met at every stage of the process. We can also issue up-to-date hygiene and/or Gas Safe certification following every visit.
We’re accredited to ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001: 2015 and ISO 45001:2018. All our work is carried out in accordance with the European Regulations EC852/2004, the Food Safety & Hygiene (England) Regulations, and COSHH.
Call TWO Services on 0800 22 44 33 to discuss packages and pricing.
More information and advice can be found on the TWO Services website.