Fire suppression & interlocks
Where fire suppression and extraction cleaning meet, insurers increasingly expect documented proof that both are maintained. The defensible package is a TR19 post-clean report registered on the Vent Hygiene Register alongside a current suppression Certificate of Conformance - fuel control and fire response, both evidenced.
The short answer
Where fire suppression and extraction cleaning meet, insurers increasingly expect documented proof that both are maintained. The defensible package is a TR19 post-clean report registered on the Vent Hygiene Register alongside a current suppression Certificate of Conformance - fuel control and fire response, both evidenced.
The detail
Fire cover for a commercial kitchen increasingly comes with conditions about maintenance, and grease accumulation is a recognised significant fire risk. Insurers have moved from taking cleaning on trust to asking for evidence of it, and of the suppression that protects the same cookline. The two sit together in a claim because between them they cover the fuel and the response.
On the extraction side, the expected proof is a TR19 Grease post-clean report: before and after photographs, grease thickness readings taken across the system, the mean average against the target, and the whole system covered - not just the accessible canopy. A canopy-only clean with the duct left out is a common gap insurers now probe.
That report is strongest when registered on the BESCA Vent Hygiene Register, an independent record of the clean that an insurer or assessor can verify rather than take on the contractor's word. It turns a private invoice into an auditable trail.
On the suppression side, the counterpart is the Certificate of Conformance from each six-monthly SP206 service. Presented together, the clean report and the conformance certificate describe a kitchen where both the grease load and the suppression system were being actively managed and can be shown to have been.
What it means for you
The consequence of missing evidence is not abstract. Where a fire occurs and the maintenance cannot be demonstrated - an overdue clean, a duct never done, a lapsed suppression service - insurers have reduced or refused claims, and reported cases have run into six figures. The policy condition was real, and unmet.
This is a factual matter of what insurers require, not advice on your specific policy - your cover wording and your broker are the authorities on that. The general pattern, though, is consistent: demonstrable, whole-system maintenance is what supports a claim, and gaps in it are what undermine one.
Keeping the evidence current is therefore part of the value of the clean, not an afterthought. A registered TR19 report sitting alongside your suppression certificates is the record that, if the worst happens, shows the kitchen was managed as the policy assumed.
The service behind the guide
Sibling guides
Fire safety, not just hygiene · How cleaning ties into fire suppression · Wok and tandoor frequency
Questions
Typically a TR19 Grease post-clean report covering the whole system - before and after photos, grease thickness readings, the mean against target - ideally registered on the BESCA Vent Hygiene Register so it can be independently verified. That register entry is often what a broker asks to see at renewal, rather than a paper invoice.
Often not. Insurers increasingly expect the whole system - filters, plenum, duct and fan - to be cleaned and evidenced, and a canopy-only clean leaving the duct untouched is a gap they now look for.
Through the Certificate of Conformance from each six-monthly SP206 service. Paired with the TR19 report, it shows both the grease load and the suppression system were being maintained on the same cookline.
Where maintenance cannot be demonstrated after a fire, insurers have reduced or refused claims, with reported cases reaching six figures. If cleaning is a policy condition, missing evidence can leave the loss uncovered.
No. This describes the general pattern of what insurers require; your own cover wording and your broker are the authorities on your specific policy. The consistent theme is that whole-system, documented maintenance supports a claim.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Phoenix Duct Clean cleans the whole extraction system to TR19 Grease and documents it for the Vent Hygiene Register, giving you half the evidence package an insurer expects.