With every commercial kitchen, certain requirements need to be met. This is especially true for kitchen ventilation because when food is being prepared vapours are produced and a large amount of heat is emitted. This means that ventilation systems need regular management for the safety of consumers and employees. So having an extraction system that works efficiently is crucial to staying within the minimum ventilation legal requirements.
The current regulations aren’t just a box to tick. They are incredibly important to ensure that employees are working in safe conditions. It also helps ensure that the quality of the products is up to par with the current rules and regulations as well. Through our article, we will cover all aspects of the current rules and how you can adhere to them to follow the law and avoid breaking these regulations.
What Do The Regulations Say?
So there are quite a few rules and regulations for effective commercial kitchen ventilation. It helps to ensure safe working conditions for both workers and customers. You may have to consider a few other factors as well, such as the layout and planning of your commercial kitchen.
So here are the main regulations and rules for commercial kitchen ventilation:
- All hot air and cooking fumes must be removed and cool and clean air needs to be circulated.
- The ventilation needs to be in place that avoids employee discomfort.
- The system must be fully maintained and cleaned regularly.
- Carbon monoxide must not be allowed to build up in the workspace.
- The equipment should be free of vibration and at a minimal volume to avoid disruption to the workplace.
What Makes A Good Commercial Kitchen Ventilation System?
You want to make sure that you provide the best ventilation available for your commercial kitchen staff. So there are some key components you need to consider to have a good commercial kitchen ventilation system that works well. The following components are what is expected from a commercial kitchen with a top-notch ventilation system.
- Commercial kitchen canopy
- Exhaust Fan
- Make-up air unit
- Hood filter bank
All of these components are essential to having good a good kitchen ventilation system that will also adhere to the rules and regulations set out by the government.
What Makes An Effective Kitchen Canopy?
Kitchen canopies are essential to maintaining good and clean air quality in a commercial kitchen environment. A kitchen canopy is a type of extractor fan one might expect to see in a commercial or professional kitchen. They ventilate dirty air out of the kitchen and replace it with clean air. This makes the kitchen canopy essential for businesses as well as keeping them compliant with the rules and regulations for a good workplace environment.
But what makes a truly effective kitchen canopy?
How It Cools The Air
One important aspect of an effective kitchen canopy is how efficient it is at cooling the hot air around the kitchen. If you have an ineffective kitchen canopy it may ventilate the air but not push out cooling air. This can be bad for employees as it gets very hot in kitchens and not having cool clean air can put the safety of employees at risk. This is also against the UK ventilation rules and regulations as well.
The Airflow
Of course, your kitchen canopy needs to provide a good flow of air throughout the workplace. Disposing of dangerous fumes which can be harmful to employees’ general health. The airflow should be in a place to avoid further issues in the workplace as well. Having proper airflow also insures that mould and bacteria do not build up in the kitchen environment so both customers and employees are safe.
Lighting
Perhaps this is an underrated element of an effective kitchen canopy but it is an important one. Most kitchen canopies are well-lit and use energy-saving LED lights. Not only does this save on energy consumption but it also provides staff with better lighting to clean surfaces and keeping the workplace clean. It can also help employees to become less fatigued while at work.
How To Maintain Kitchen Ventilation Equipment
There are some easy steps you can follow to properly clean and maintain your kitchen ventilation equipment. It’s important to regularly clean and maintain your kitchen ventilation system in order to increase the longevity of your ventilation system and make sure that it remains compliant with the law. Here is how you can clean and maintain your kitchen ventilation system:
- Schedule a weekly physical inspection of your kitchen ventilation system.
- Clean the cooker hoodand grease filters daily.
- Once a month do a deep clean of the entire system to make sure there isn’t anything mechanically wrong with the fan.
- Check all the ventilation mechanisms to make sure they are working properly.
Kitchen Ventilation From Dolphin Fabrications
At Dolphin fabrications, we provide a wide array of commercial kitchen ventilation systems, products and services. We provide businesses with system designs for their kitchen, stainless steel kitchen ventilation canopies, suppression systems, ducting systems and more.
If you would like to see more articles and posts, visit our blog pageand find out more today! Or if you want to see some of the great work we have already accomplished, visit our case studies page.
