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Duct cleaning - schedule and evidence
Having your extraction cleaned is one thing; being able to prove it was cleaned, to the right standard, on a schedule matched to the risk, is another - and it is what actually satisfies your fire-safety duty, your insurer, and any inspection. A schedule you cannot prove is worth little when it counts. Here is how to build an extraction cleaning schedule you can prove.
The short answer
Building an extraction cleaning schedule you can prove has two parts: setting the schedule to the risk, and evidencing that it is followed. Setting it to the risk means basing the cleaning frequency on how fast your particular system loads with grease - measured, ideally, by a grease-loading survey - so the interval fits your kitchen's actual cooking, rather than a generic figure. Cleaning to a recognised standard means each clean is done properly and thoroughly, to the standard, so it genuinely controls the grease. And evidencing it means keeping records of each clean: when it was done, what was cleaned, to what standard, and the measurements (grease depth before and after, in microns) that prove the clean achieved the standard. Together, these give a schedule that is both sound (matched to the risk and done properly) and provable (documented and measured). This matters because your fire-safety duty, your insurer, and any inspection all want evidence that the extraction is being cleaned properly - and a schedule you can prove, with dated, measured records, is what provides it. A clean you cannot prove is, for these purposes, almost as good as no clean at all.
Why provability matters
The starting point is understanding why being able to prove the cleaning matters - because it changes the whole approach. Keeping the extraction cleaned is essential for controlling the grease fire risk, but for the purposes of your fire-safety duty, your insurance, and any inspection, it is not enough to have cleaned it; you have to be able to show that you did, properly and on a sensible schedule. Your fire-safety duty requires you to manage the grease fire risk and be able to demonstrate that you are; an insurer may require the system to be maintained and may ask for evidence, especially after a fire; and an inspection wants to see the system is being kept clean. All of these want evidence, not just your word.
So a clean you cannot prove is worth little when it counts. If a fire occurs, or an inspection or insurance query arises, and you cannot show that the extraction was being cleaned properly and on schedule, you are in a weak position - unable to demonstrate you met your duty, potentially facing insurance problems, and exposed on compliance. The cleaning may have been done, but without the evidence, you cannot prove it, which for these purposes leaves you almost as exposed as if it had not been done. This is why the provability matters as much as the cleaning itself: the value of the cleaning, for compliance and insurance, depends on being able to demonstrate it. So building a schedule you can prove is about ensuring the cleaning both happens and is evidenced - so it protects you not just physically (controlling the fire risk) but also in terms of your demonstrable compliance. A provable schedule is what makes the cleaning count when it needs to.
Set the schedule to the risk
The first part of a provable schedule is setting the cleaning frequency to the risk - basing it on how fast your particular system loads with grease, rather than a generic interval. Different kitchens load their extraction at very different rates depending on their cooking: a high-output kitchen frying and grilling heavily loads fast and needs frequent cleaning, while a light-use kitchen loads slowly and needs it less often. A schedule matched to your kitchen's actual loading is one that cleans the system before the grease builds to a dangerous level - which is both what fire safety requires and what makes the schedule defensible as appropriate to your risk.
The best basis for setting the frequency is a grease-loading survey that measures how fast your system actually loads - assessing the grease build-up and the cooking, so the interval is grounded in your system's real loading rather than a guess. This gives a schedule that is demonstrably matched to the risk, which is stronger, for proving you have managed the risk appropriately, than an arbitrary interval. It also means you are neither under-cleaning (letting grease build up dangerously) nor over-cleaning (paying for cleaning the system does not yet need). So setting the schedule to the risk - ideally on a measured basis - is the foundation of a sound, provable schedule: the frequency is right for your system, and you can show why it is right. A schedule set to the measured risk is one you can justify as appropriate, which is part of proving you have managed the fire risk properly. The frequency being right, and defensibly so, is the first thing a provable schedule needs.
Clean to a recognised standard
The second part is that each clean is done to a recognised standard - properly and thoroughly, so it genuinely controls the grease and so the clean is a real, standard-meeting clean rather than a superficial one. A clean done to the recognised standard reaches the whole system, removes the grease properly, and brings the grease level down to the standard - which is what actually controls the fire risk, and what makes the clean count as a proper clean for compliance. A superficial clean that leaves grease in the system, or does not reach all of it, neither controls the risk properly nor stands up as a proper clean. So cleaning to the standard is essential both for the real fire-safety benefit and for the clean to be defensible as a proper one.
Cleaning to a recognised standard also connects to the evidence, because the standard defines what a proper clean achieves - which the records can then show was achieved. A clean done to the standard, with the grease brought down to the standard's level, produces a result that can be measured and recorded as meeting the standard. So the standard is both the benchmark for the cleaning and the reference for the evidence: the clean is done to it, and the records show it was met. This is why using a competent contractor who cleans to the recognised standard matters for a provable schedule - it ensures each clean is a proper, standard-meeting clean that both controls the risk and can be evidenced as such. So the second element of a provable schedule is that the cleaning is done properly, to the standard - which makes it genuinely effective and genuinely provable, rather than a superficial clean that is neither.
Keep the records that prove it
The third and decisive part of a provable schedule is keeping the records that evidence each clean - because this is what turns a good cleaning practice into a provable one. The records should document each clean: when it was done (the date), what was cleaned (the extent of the system covered), to what standard (the recognised standard met), and, crucially, the measurements - the grease depth before and after the clean, in microns, which prove the clean brought the grease down to the standard. These records, kept for each clean, build a documented history showing the extraction has been cleaned properly, on schedule, over time - which is exactly the evidence your duty, insurer and inspection want.
The measurements matter particularly, because they are objective proof that the clean achieved the standard - not just that a clean was done, but that it brought the grease down to the required level, measured and recorded. A record with before-and-after micron measurements is far stronger evidence than a bare statement that cleaning happened: it shows the clean was effective to the standard. So the records, especially the measured ones, are what make the schedule provable - they document that the cleaning happened, when, to what standard, and with what result. Keeping them consistently, for every clean, builds the evidence base that proves the schedule is being followed. So the third element - and the one that most directly delivers the provability - is keeping dated, measured records of each clean. Together with the risk-based frequency and the standard-meeting cleaning, this gives a schedule that is sound and provable: matched to the risk, done properly, and documented with the measured evidence that proves it - so that when your duty, insurer or an inspection asks, you can show, not just say, that the extraction is being cleaned properly.
The takeaway
Building an extraction cleaning schedule you can prove has two parts: setting the schedule to the risk, and evidencing that it is followed. Set it to the risk by basing the cleaning frequency on how fast your particular system loads with grease - ideally measured by a grease-loading survey - so the interval fits your kitchen's actual cooking and is defensibly matched to your risk. Clean to a recognised standard, so each clean is done properly and thoroughly, genuinely controlling the grease and counting as a proper clean. And keep the records that prove it: dated records of each clean, showing what was cleaned, to what standard, and the grease measurements before and after that prove the clean met the standard.
This matters because your fire-safety duty, your insurer and any inspection all want evidence that the extraction is being cleaned properly - and a schedule you can prove, with dated, measured records, is what provides it. A clean you cannot prove is worth little when it counts: if a fire, inspection or insurance query arises and you cannot show the cleaning was done properly and on schedule, you are exposed, however diligently the cleaning was actually done. So build the schedule to be both sound (matched to the risk, done to the standard) and provable (documented and measured) - so the cleaning protects you both physically, by controlling the fire risk, and demonstrably, by evidencing that you met your duty. A provable schedule is what makes the cleaning count when it needs to.
Questions
Because your fire-safety duty, your insurer and any inspection want evidence that the extraction is being cleaned properly - not just your word. Your duty requires you to demonstrate you are managing the grease fire risk; an insurer may ask for evidence, especially after a fire; and an inspection wants to see the system is kept clean. A clean you cannot prove is worth little when it counts.
By basing the cleaning frequency on how fast your particular system loads with grease, rather than a generic interval - ideally measured by a grease-loading survey that assesses your system's actual loading. This gives a frequency matched to your kitchen's cooking, so the system is cleaned before the grease builds dangerously, and a schedule you can defend as appropriate to your risk.
Because a clean done to the standard reaches the whole system, removes the grease properly, and brings the grease level down to the standard - which genuinely controls the fire risk and counts as a proper clean. A superficial clean that leaves grease neither controls the risk nor stands up as a proper clean. The standard is also the benchmark the records show was met.
For each clean: when it was done (the date), what was cleaned (the extent covered), to what standard (the recognised standard met), and the measurements - the grease depth before and after, in microns, proving the clean brought the grease down to the standard. Kept consistently, these build a documented history showing the extraction has been cleaned properly, on schedule, over time.
Because they are objective proof that the clean achieved the standard - not just that a clean was done, but that it brought the grease down to the required level, measured and recorded. A record with before-and-after micron measurements is far stronger evidence than a bare statement that cleaning happened, showing the clean was effective to the standard. The measurements are what make the schedule genuinely provable.
Then, for compliance and insurance purposes, you are almost as exposed as if it had not been done - the cleaning may have happened, but without evidence you cannot prove it, which is what your duty, insurer and inspection want. So it is worth starting to keep proper records now, and going forward building the documented, measured history that proves the schedule is being followed.
Our extraction cleaning is done to the recognised standard and documented with before-and-after grease measurements - the dated, measured records that make your cleaning schedule provable, not just claimed.
