Minneapolis Inspections

The Minneapolis Fire Department has instituted a new permit program for all kitchen grease exhaust vent cleaning effective 1/1/2010. The permits start at $130 per cleaning. All jobs will require a permit at least 5 days prior to cleaning and complete digital pictures of the entire inside of the grease exhaust systems for each and every job e-mailed to the fire department within 5 days of job completion. The new ordinance also references NFPA96 scheduling guidelines and requires all systems are cleaned to bare metal. It also state that "There shall be no grease or carbonized grease left in the hood, duct systems, filters, or fan assemblies". Note that the black stuff I wrote about in previous posts is also called carbonized grease. All KEC companies inspecting and working in Mpls must be properly trained, qualified, certified, and licensed by the city of Mpls. This ordinance also includes inspection of the cooking equipment and requirement for cleaning the equipment if found heavily contaminated with grease buildup. Permit applications and Information can be found at www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/fire-prevention.asp This is the most comprehensive program of its kind in the country and it should make Minneapolis the safest city in the country for restaurants and their patrons. If done correctly, it could virtually eliminate grease exhaust system fires. I think this could potentially save taxpayers, restaurants, and insurance companies millions of dollars in losses. I hope the insurance companies see this program and extend the potential savings back to the Mpls restaurants. I also hope as the Mpls fire inspection program become more efficient, the cost of the permits could be reduced. This could be the prototype for inspection programs around the country- Don