Do you run a business in a kitchen? Does your office, school, hospital (or any other workplace) have a kitchen? If you answered yes, you need to know the common causes of kitchen fires so that you can reduce the chances of a fire in your building.
After you’ve minimised the risk in your building, be sure to check out our fire blanket inspection services. Please get in touch if you have any fire safety concerns.
Just last month, one of Melbourne’s most popular CBD laneways was evacuated after a café caught fire. Staff had to jump over the counter to avoid the flames. The fire started in the kitchen and couldn’t be contained.
Fire blankets are essential when a fire is in its early stages. You can extinguish a fire before it becomes out of control by placing a functional blanket over the flame. They’re also very effective for use on people. If someone is unfortunate enough to catch on fire, you can wrap them in a blanket and put out the fire.
Fire crews inspect the damaged café. Picture: Jason Edwards. Source: https://goo.gl/krTmU3
To stop a fire before it starts, check out these common causes of kitchen fires and make sure your space is as safe as possible.
The best protection is prevention!
Messy Kitchens
When grease flammable liquids aren’t cleaned properly off kitchen surfaces, they build up over time. This build-up can easily ignite the next time someone tries to cook in the kitchen. Grease fires are some of the most common types of kitchen fires.
Luckily, fire blankets are manufactured especially to handle fires that are fuelled by cooking oils and fats. These fires are known as class F fire.
If you make sure your kitchen is cleaned properly every day, the chances of a fire starting because of mess will be greatly reduced.
Dangerous Equipment
Another important part of kitchen fire safety is updating and maintaining your kitchen appliances. If you have old or damaged equipment, it can overheat or spark an electrical fire. You can avoid an appliance fire in your kitchen by having your equipment tested and tagged to ensure safety.
At Jim’s Fire Safety, we also offer electrical testing and tagging. This is another essential part of fire prevention. Anything that plugs in and is being used in your kitchen needs to be tested. For electrical fires, make sure there is a CO2 extinguisher available in your kitchen space. This type of extinguisher doesn’t contain a conductor (like water) so it is safe to use on electrical fires.
Poorly Trained Staff
One of the most common causes of kitchen fires is unattended cooking equipment. A basic part of kitchen safety training is never leaving an open flame unattended. You might think that your stovetop looks safe enough to walk away for a second, but you could easily return to an uncontrollable blaze. Make sure your staff are properly inducted when they join your business and continue to reinforce basic kitchen safety procedures in your business.
Ventilation Troubles
Most commercial kitchens have ventilation systems to help recycle air and keep your kitchen free of smoke and smell. If your ventilation isn’t cleaned regularly, gunk, grease, and soot can build up over time. When the ducts reach a high temperature, this debris can ignite. A ventilation fire may also start because of an electrical fault (like a fan malfunction) which causes a spark that ignites the debris. Making sure your ventilation system is cleaned and maintained will help you reduce the chance of a fire starting in your vents.
Preparing for the Common Causes of Kitchen Fires
The first thing you can do is make sure your fire protection equipment is maintained. This includes fire blanket maintenance which will help you target class F fires.
After you’ve made sure you have working firefighting equipment, assess your property for fire hazards. Clean the kitchen and ventilation and remove/repair any dangerous equipment. Have a staff meeting and talk about fire safety awareness. Make sure everyone knows the basic kitchen safety rules and how to operate fire protection equipment.
Want to know more about our fire safety testing services? Call us today for a FREE QUOTE and make sure your kitchen is safe today.
