One of the ironies of certain seasonal industries is that the hotter temperatures that can help increase business can also cause a range of health and safety implications.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the hospitality sector, where commercial kitchens need to be carefully deep-cleaned to reduce the risk of serious complications caused by the heat.
When we think about heatwaves and commercial kitchens, the first priority is worker health, as it should be. Working in a hot kitchen is difficult at the best of times, and the ambient outdoor temperature can increase the risk of conditions such as heatstroke.
However, the heat itself can increase the risk of industrial fires by providing the optimal environment for a fire to start and rapidly spread.
How Heatwaves Affect The Fire Triangle
There are three elements to any fire, as defined by the fire triangle:
- Heat
- Fuel
- Oxygen
Whilst a heatwave cannot directly start a fire indoors, what it can do is make it far easier for potential sources of fuel, such as the grease trapped in an extractor fan, to reach the ignition point required to catch fire.
What compounds this is that the kitchen itself and all of the equipment in it get hotter and overheat, which increases the strain on ventilation and fan systems to channel heat away.
If a vent gets blocked or does not work fully, the heat can increase to the point that it can potentially spark a fire that could also spread quickly due to the presence of high amounts of grease, oil or dust.
This is why deep cleaning is perhaps even more vital in preparation for hot weather; it helps to remove potential fire hazards and sources of fuel that hot ambient temperatures can exploit, whilst ensuring your extractor fans work as efficiently as possible to keep chefs safe.
