A fire involving a deep fat fryer can be extremely dangerous, and it’s your obligation as the licensee or owner of your sports club or working mens club to take steps to avoid them occurring.
How to help prevent fires with a deep fat fryer
Location
If you use a deep fat fryer inside the kitchen of your working men’s club, it’s important that it’s located beneath cooking exhaust hoods to ensure that smoke and air can be withdrawn from the area.
Cleanliness
Vapours from old grease is often the cause of fires, so keeping your deep fat fryer clean is paramount to avoiding a fire.
A deep fat fryer should be cleaned at least once every six months by independent contractors, along with all filters, taps and other grease removal devices. Grease and residue deposits should be continually cleaned from the surface areas of the fryers, the surrounding floor and all control devices on the equipment.
Other factors
Preventive maintenance is essential, so if your deep fat fryer has not been used for an extended amount of time, have it checked thoroughly checked by an authorised dealer before you reuse it.
A temperature controller should always be in use to make sure that the fryers heat source can be shut off if it reaches an unsafe temperature. This may be vital to preventing a fire that is beginning.
Never leave a deep fat fryer unattended – not only a leading cause of house fires, deep fat fryers can cause fast and widespread damage if a fire is allowed to start.
If a fire occurs
You should never apply water to the a deep fat fryer. Water is not an effective way of fighting this type of fire and can be dangerous, risking injury to staff and spreading the fire to other areas of your kitchen. Call the fire service as soon as an incident occurs, attempting to fight a fire is never advisable under any circumstances.
Automatic extinguishing systems are essential for the protection of deep fat fryers because of the intensity of these types of fires and because of the inaccessibility of the areas above the filters and in the exhaust ducts.
Failing to take preventative measures against deep fat fryer fires can mean that you are not covered should the worst happen. Be sure to check the exact wording of your policy (which can depend on your insurer) so be sure you are still protected.
Safe Keys
Make sure you remove safe keys from your establishment
You should always be mindful of when the last time you changed your key or code to your alarm or safe was.
If a theft or incident occurs and you have not made adequate attempts to make your safe key or alarm code difficult to access, you could lose coverage. This will depend on the wording of your policy, so be sure to regularly check up on the terms of your coverage.
Ensure all staff are trained correctly on how to set the alarm and introduce rules that make sure the alarm is set whenever the property is unattended for any time. If there is a problem with your alarm cannot be set, you must have someone on site to maintain the security of your establishment until your underwriter has been contacted or the relevant repairs have been made.
Club insure are one of the top insurance brokers for local sports clubs, working men’s club and a host of other sport and leisure facilities.
If you’re interested in a meeting or want to find out why our insurance cover is so comprehensive, speak to one of our experienced staff on 0844 488 9205, or use our contact form.
