Hood cleaners liable for fire after system cleaned?

mtngoat

mtngoat

Member
I picked this post up from another thread and posted it here for discussion.

This restaurant will find some "hungry" hood cleaner to service his fans and ducts or only the hoods will be cleaned and the ducts and fans will continue to be overlooked. It's done everyday, it is not right but we come across it daily. Check out some of the photos that Matt Bryans' guys have posted. A company, like yourself, who comes along with good intentions gets stuck cleaning up after the other guy's mess. The restaurant either doesn't know or doesn't care about not having his ducts cleaned per NFPA 96. If the price is right, he'll close his eyes! But consider this, if they have a fire the last company to "clean" the system gets to pay to replace the restaurant and any loss of life, regardless of the price charged. Like David and the others stated the wise thing to do is to walk away if the owner won't provide a safe access and a work surface for cleaning the fans and ducts.

This is a grey area.- There are alot of other factors to be figured in.
Such as *Is the location being serviced at proper intervals?
*Is the fire system being serviced at proper times?
*Is the fire system up to UL 300 standards?
*How about the ducting system itself?
*Are the employees or other service people doing things to hamper the proper function of the system?(Removing filters-using improper filters?Etc.)
* Are they willing to install the proper access panels for cleaning? The list goes on.

I,ve never encountered a possible liability suite.
Things are changing in the insurance world. Use these changes to your benefit. Mtngoat.
 
Mtngoat,

The best way to avoid trouble altogether in the instance originally quoted is to walk away from that job. Second way, on all jobs is to CYA. We always incorporate an "after-service report" which is signed by the manager on duty and us. We file original and give them a copy. The report outlines the shortcomings of the system. It refers to the frequency of cleaning, the condition of the system, notes the filter conditions, and any comments and recommendations we see they need to bring system upto NFPA 96 code current conditions. We point out if they need cleanouts and anthing that concerns us. You can find these reports on the Phil Ackland website. If the system is deficient and you only tell the manager and walk away, in court, he has no reason to remember nor can you prove you told him without that piece of paper. The object is to remove all grey areas, because when lawyers go hunting they are like drug sniffing dogs looking for loot.
 
I believe I will be using something similiar to your service report.
Would you be willing to e mail me a copy of it? Thanx
 
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I use the Phil Ackland's follow-up report. He has a lot of good forms, just make sure you leave his copyright on them.
 
Great input guys. Thank you.
 
I still use all his forms, recieved allot of feed back on the forms.

They think I spent hours on development of these documents, After they blow my horn, I point to the name, just to help Phil out, and state his cause.

Matt
 
All the reports and documentation will help but the bottom line is if you did any duct cleaning (aka fire protection services) even if everything is perfect on a quarterly account and on day 89 they have a fire you will be getting served papers from the insurance companies attorneys. If you did the job and got cancelled and they do not hire a new company and they have a fire 8 months after you last service, you will be served. We live in a world of subrigation and everyone sues everyone and the only real winners are the attorneys.
 
Amen to that! We are three years into a suite where a store canceled out service, apparently never had it cleaned, and had a fire a year later. Our last service report (signed by the manager) clearly states that most of the ductwork is inaccessible. The fan they used was not even rated for grease exhaust.
They are suing everyone who ever had anything to do with the exhaust system from the people who installed it to the fire suppression company.
 
Bryan,
Do you use your own form - or one of Ackland's forms? I am going to develop something that will hold them in very tightly - perhaps your signed form is sufficient? Would you mind sharing the general wording?

Richard
 
We use Phil's forms. I don't know what can be done to completely keep clear yourself. What we do now if we have anything that is even questionable is call the owner and expalin things to him/her. Never trust a manager to pass on the any info, their paycheck may be tied to the bottom line which means they may not want to spend to fix any problems.
 
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