BAFE Announce Ground-Breaking Kitchen Fire Protection Systems Scheme

Over the past two years, BAFE, the independent register of quality fire safety service providers, have been developing BAFE SP206, a new third-party certification scheme that covers the design, installation, commissioning, recharge and maintenance of kitchen fire suppression and extinguishing systems. This ground-breaking new scheme is the first of its kind in the UK.

The new scheme was officially announced at the Fire Safety North Exhibition in October in Manchester. The revolutionary new scheme was developed with the help of a steering committee made up of industry experts including our very own Managing Director Ian Bartle and representatives from Ansul and Amerex. These experts were also joined by colleagues from Certification Bodies NSI and BSI, and was chaired by Dr Jim Glockling of the FPA.

Ian said: “The industry has been waiting a long time – too long – for third-party certification such as this. This revolutionary new scheme will enhance the level of quality to ensure a safer working kitchen environment and will help to reduce the number of kitchen fires that escalate to a dangerous situation. It has been a privilege to play such a huge part in helping to bring this new scheme to the industry and I look forward to seeing the improvements this will make to commercial kitchen fire system compliance in the future.”

The new scheme was also introduced to the industry at the CEDA Conference by Chris Auger, Schemes Manager, prior to Ian’s presentation on the need for improved kitchen system standards, such as this.

Fire industry and insurance data has found that food and drink-related fires are statistically the third most likely cause of large fires and account for nearly 10% of all large loss fires. Fires involving restaurants and cafes represent 42% of all fires within the food and drink sector combined.

For more information on BAFE please visit www.bafe.org.uk and to learn more about the BAFE SP206, visit https://www.bafe.org.uk/schemes/kitchen-fire-protection-systems.