Phoenix Journal · Ductwork
One accountable provider or a specialist for every job? We weigh the real trade-offs for cleaning, deep cleaning and LEV testing your commercial kitchen extract system.
Choosing your setup
When your kitchen extract system needs cleaning, testing and record-keeping, you face a simple-looking question with real consequences: do you hand the lot to one provider, or line up a specialist for each job?
On paper the work splits neatly - extract and duct cleaning to TR19® Grease, periodic deep cleaning, and an LEV thorough examination and test under COSHH Regulation 9 at least every 14 months. In practice these strands overlap. The engineer who cleans your ductwork is looking at the same grease, the same access panels and the same fan that the LEV examiner assesses for airflow. Whether you keep that knowledge under one roof or spread it across a bench of specialists changes your cost, your paperwork and, if a fire or an inspection ever comes, how quickly you can prove you did the right thing.
Both models are legitimate and both are widely used across UK catering. The right choice depends on the size of your estate, how much in-house oversight you have, and how much you value a single point of accountability. Below is an honest look at each, with the trade-offs laid out plainly so you can match the setup to your site rather than to a sales pitch.
Here one accredited company handles cleaning, deep cleaning and LEV testing across the whole extract system. They hold the schematic, own the cleaning schedule and issue every report. Your job is to give them access and read what comes back.
Here you appoint the best available firm for each task - a ventilation hygiene specialist for TR19® Grease cleaning, perhaps a separate deep-clean contractor, and an independent occupational hygienist or competent engineer for the LEV examination. Each answers to you directly.
Whichever route you take, the same legal and technical benchmarks apply - and they are the yardstick you should hold any provider to. Your extract fan and its controls sit under COSHH as local exhaust ventilation, so the examination interval is not negotiable, and the cleaning standard is set by BESA, not by the contractor. If you are weighing a single provider partly on how well they grasp your ductwork, note that the way your fans are arranged - covered in our look at roof fans versus line fans - shapes both the clean and the airflow test, so real system knowledge is worth paying for either way.
Read those three numbers together and the deciding question becomes clear. It is not really single versus multiple - it is which model lets you evidence, at any moment, that the clean was adequate and the airflow was tested by someone competent. A single provider gets you there through consolidated records and one line of accountability; multiple specialists get you there through depth and an independent test. Match the answer to your estate: smaller and mid-sized sites usually gain most from consolidation, while large or high-risk operations often justify the independence a split approach brings.
Questions
For most single sites a single provider works out cheaper once you count the hidden costs, because you carry one contract, one set of visits and one reporting format rather than coordinating several. Multiple specialists can be more cost-effective on large or complex estates where each discipline is substantial enough to tender separately and benchmark. The bigger saving in both cases comes from avoiding a fire or a failed inspection, so weigh price against how easily you can prove compliance.
It can. The LEV thorough examination under COSHH Regulation 9 is meant to be an impartial check, and a company assessing airflow on ductwork it also cleaned has less independence than a separate examiner. Reputable single providers manage this with competent, appropriately qualified engineers and honest reporting, but if independence matters to your risk profile, appointing a separate examiner is a legitimate reason to split the work.
You need post-clean verification reports with photographs and measurements for each TR19 Grease clean, plus the LEV examination certificates, and both should be kept for at least five years. Your fire risk assessment under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 should reference the cleaning regime, and your insurer may set its own cleaning frequency as a policy condition. A single provider makes this trail easier to assemble; with multiple specialists you must consolidate it yourself.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Phoenix surveys and cleans kitchen and building ductwork to the TR19 standard - measured, cleaned and certificated, UK-wide.