Fire risk prevention measures

Equipment and Machinery

Common causes of fire in equipment are;

• Allowing ventilation points to become clogged or blocked causing overheating.
• Inadequate cleaning of heat-shrink packaging equipment such that is used in in-store bakeries.
• Allowing extraction equipment in catering environments to build up excessive grease deposits.
• Misuse or lack of maintenance of cooking equipment and appliances.
• Disabling or interfering with automatic or manual safety features and cut-outs.

All machinery, apparatus and office equipment should be properly maintained by a competent person. Appropriate signs and instructions on safe use may be necessary.

Heating

Individual heating appliances require particular care if they are to be used safely, particularly those which are kept for an emergency use during a power cut or as supplementer heating during severe weather. The greatest risks arise from lack of maintenance and staff unfamiliar with them. Heaters should preferably be secured in position when in use and fitted with a fire guard if appropriate.

As a general rule, convector or fan heaters should be preferred to radiant heaters because they present a lower risk of fire and injury.

The following rules should be observed;

• All heaters should be kept clear of combustible materials and where they do not cause an obstruction.
• Heaters which burn a fuel should be sited away from draughts.
• Portable fuel burning heaters including bottled gas (LPG) should only be used in exceptional circumstances and if shown to be acceptable in your fire risk assessment.

All gas heating appliances should be only used in accordance with manufacture`s instructions and should be serviced annually by a competent person. In general staff should be discouraged from bringing in their own portable heaters and other electrical equipment(e.g. kettles) into the premises.

Cooking processes

Typical installations used in cooking processes include deep fat fryers, ovens, grills, surface cookers, ductwork, flues, filters, hoods, extract and ventilation ducts and dampers.