Commercial kitchen safety tips

These safety tips will help keep your restaurant, employees, and customers protected.

Commercial kitchens are the number one root cause of restaurant fires. Protecting your building from kitchen fires will protect you, your employees, your customers, your property, and help reduce the potential of loss of business.

Sprinkler and fire detection systems

If your building is equipped with a sprinkler system, the sprinkler system should be maintained and serviced on an annual basis by a certified sprinkler contractor. If your business is a tenant in a mall, strip mall, or multi-tenant building, it is the building owner’s responsibility to ensure the sprinkler system is serviced annually. If your building does not have a sprinkler system or is not required to have one, fire detection systems and smoke detection systems should be installed and properly maintained.

Fire extinguishers

Portable fire extinguishers should be properly located along the means of egress adequately throughout the restaurant facility. There are five classes of fire extinguishers:

• Class A: Ordinary combustibles
• Class B: Flammable liquids
• Class C: Energized electrical equipment
• Class D: Combustible metals
• Class K: Cooking media

A class K fire extinguisher should be placed in an easily accessible location in the kitchen. NEVER use a class A, B, or C fire extinguisher on a kitchen fire – the dry chemicals used by these classes of fire extinguishers are unable to sufficiently cool down the cooking oils and grease to prevent them from reigniting.