Real Statements from cleaning companies

Hi folks, Back from several seminars the past month plus a west coast inspection tour. I will be catching up on posts the next week or so with lots of info and pictures. Thanks for the MN Fire Marshals Association for hosting the Kitchen Exhaust seminar last week. It was nice to put faces to the many people I have had the pleasure to know over the past 3 decades and to catch up with some of the best and most state of the art inspection departments in the Country. (Inver Grove Heights and Eden Prairie to name two in attendance). I will be visiting New York in a couple weeks and look forward to meeting many of the code officials and restaurant staff in Albany. I just had some disturbing statements over the past few weeks that I need to share. They really put things into prospective on what some people are actually saying and doing in the field. On large National KEC company officer stated to a Regional Facilities Manager(He passed this on to me as he could not believe his ears!!) "We only clean down the the black stuff. someone will have to prove to me that the black stuff really burns plus it is difficult to prove how thick it is with a gauge" This is a clear case of cutting corners and putting lives in danger strictly for profit. This company has been undercutting jobs around the country and I have posted many pictures from their jobs and now we know why vast areas of systems they do are not getting cleaned at all. We also now know that this kind of very dangerous work starts at the top and may not be completely the workers or subcontractors fault as much as we thought. This is how companies try to manipulate NFPA96 for their own gain and not for what it really says or for what is right. There have been numerous fires in wood and broiler systems that have almost all "BLACK STUFF" in them. What do they think solid fuel produces and where many fires start? One would think that this would be proof enough for this person who should not even be in the business with their attitude!! This is not the only KEC company I have heard this from and restaurant customers need to be aware of what is going on and how much danger they are putting their facilities in. This person is cleaning broiler and wood fired systems in downtown multi-use multistory buildings and the loss of life and property could be catastrophic with their attitude!! Another different large National company told their subcontractor to stop cleaning after only 3 hours on a job that required more than 10 hours to properly complete as that is all they were paying. They also told the subcontractor that they have 10 millions dollars insurance so do not worry about it. The sub was also told to only take pictures of the "Clean Areas" as the contract was fairly new and they had to send pictures into the customer. All I can say is WOW!! I think fraud and swindle charges should be placed with these kind of unscrupulous KEC management personnel. They both have been in the business for a few years and know better!! What happens when one of these fires kill someone else!! I do not wish that on anyone!! NFPA 96 is very clear to remove ALL of the grease and carbon as it is ALL combustible!! I teach the proper term is and always should be down to the metal!! I will post more later along with some more juicy pictures!!

Don