Editor Paul Braithwaite catches up with former HVR interviewee Richard Norman of Indepth Hygiene, and discovers the grease extract industry is about to experience explosive growth.
Some 90% of kitchen grease extracts in the UK have never been cleaned.

Richard Norman, managing director of Indepth Hygiene, has a list of the points he wants to talk about but this is the one which grabs my attention. He adds that you have to bear in mind there are around 250,000 catering establishments in the UK.

'If you can see the ductwork from the outside of the building and it has no access panels, it has never been cleaned,' adds Norman. 'There is no magical way of cleaning ductwork. You have to cut access panels.'

He was one of the first contractors I interviewed when I took over as editor of HVR.
The grease extract industry has come on a pace since then but some things never change and
the lack of ductwork cleaning in restaurants is, it seems, one of them.

In the year to June 2009, Indepth Hygiene will see a growth of more than 40%, which, Norman says, is because of the explosion of the grease extract market. And he adds that he expects to undertake £2M worth of grease extract work in this year.

His company boasts 400 new clients which involved 1,000 cleans. Doesn't he know there is
a recession on? Oh, yes, he says. 'We had six months of work for one of the big banks which was cancelled.'

He adds that this, and other clients which have cancelled or just gone bust, clearly impacted on turnover and profit. Turnover for the year to June should be about £3.5M and, Norman explains, this has been the first year when the grease extraction work has overtaken kitchen deep cleaning for the company.





He says the business tries to do only kitchen, grease extract, and general air extract and supply cleaning. It's about specialising. 'Other companies 'specialise' in all other areas of cleaning.'
Indepth Hygiene believes the grease extract market will grow enormously during the next few years. And, because of this awareness, Norman estimates the market will grow substantially - from around £25M now to about £350M in five years' time.

'It is already bigger than the general extract and supply ductwork cleaning market.'
Norman says his company is probably the largest player in the UK for grease extract ductwork cleaning. 'We know where the market is going and we are trying to lead it.'

For instance he is upgrading the company website so it will be accessible to clients so that, when the work is finished, they can access post clean reports and certification which has been uploaded. 'The reporting side of the business is just as important as the cleaning side.'

Much of the business growth will be organic but he expects Indepth Hygiene will pick up a
couple of acquisitions on the way, companies - probably general ventilation ductwork cleaning firms - which cannot weather the economic downturn.

There are three types of grease extract situations which apply in the UK market, says Norman. First, the owner ignores it and does nothing. 'We have just tendered for the ductwork of a big far-eastern bank and it has ignored the grease extract. And this is not untypical.'
He adds that overall there is a certain amount of unawareness but this is diminishing.
Secondly, there are the partial cleaners. There are lots of companies which are having a partial clean of the grease extract while pretending they are having a full clean.

'We have tendered for some big pub groups and restaurant chains and we explained about access panels - 'you will need about 10/12 access panels per duct run and it will cost £x per pub' - and the group accepts a tender where the cleaning company involved will 'clean' the grease extract ductwork for around £200 a site and allegedly in accordance with the industry standard, TR19.'

'Really,' says Norman and raised an eyebrow, 'they know the companies know the cleaning is inadequate. But, if there is a problem, they will rely on their own or their contractor's insurance.'

That said, Norman explains Indepth Hygiene picks up quite a lot of contracts where there has in the past been a partial clean regime and now they have moved on. 'We are in negotiation with a national chain of restaurants where it knows the grease extract cleaning has not been done properly and it knows it is paying the square root of not-a-lot and it knows this will have to change.'

Often the reason for this change of heart is because the restaurant chain employs a facilities management company and the responsible person at that company is
on its case.

Norman acknowledges that a partial clean is sometime necessary where access is limited. But when this happens the client knows and has informed the relevant authorities such as the insurers, fire services and the environmental health officer.




'It is a case of reasonable access and a reasonable reduction of the fire risk. 'Probably the biggest fire risk in any commercial building comes from a kitchen grease extract which has not been cleaned. And that is not just my opinion but the fire brigade's as well.'

Often in commercial properties there is a contract caterer running the kitchen. The catering company will probably not be responsible for the ductwork so, while it puts the grease into the ductwork, it is not contractually responsible for it. And the client is often oblivious of it as well.

'There is often an element from the catering company of 'it is
not in our contact', but there is a legal duty.'

He adds that caterers have historically believed that, because they do not have a contractual duty, they do not have a legal duty to address this issue - 'but, under the new fire safety legislation, they do. Most of our catering contacts are increasingly aware of this issue,' he adds.
Indepth Hygiene has, Norman says, close relationships with most of the large contract caterers and they now make it clear to their clients of the need for grease extract cleaning. But it is still up to companies like Indepth Hygiene to highlight the issue.

There is, he insists, legislation in place. The Fire Safety Order replaces all the previous fire legislation, and is all about human safety in buildings and risk assessments. And, when the biggest risk in a building is the grease extract, he emphasises, 'once identified, you have to eliminate or reduce that risk.

'And, if there were a fire and someone was hurt, this is all about the responsible person who can be an individual or a number of people. If the courts are unable to hang the blame on the caterer, then it will try the facilities manager, then the firm which rents the building and then the owner.' Someone will take the blame, insists Norman.

Through the HVCA, Indepth Hygiene have been assisting and advising on training the London Fire Brigade and the EHOs about this hidden danger. 'The London Fire Brigade now has a check list for building inspection.'

· Ask if they clean the ductwork
· Ask when was it last done
· Ask to see the certificate
· If the ductwork is visible, check there are access panels every three metres

'If there are no access panels, the ductwork has not been cleaned, Norman emphasises. 'Further, if there is grease running back through the filters over the cooker, then this is a sure sign that it has not been done.'

And now Indepth Hygiene along with other members of the HVCA are offering the same training to other fire brigades and EHOs across the UK. 'Historically, fire risk assessment has often ignored or missed the grease extract ducting because people did not realise it was there.'
And another area which is increasing for Indepth Hygiene is that of seminars and expert witnesses.

'We are currently acting for an insurer in a court case following a ducting fire in a restaurant.' There are about 20 administrative staff at Indepth Hygiene, although many of them are part-time, and around 40 cleaning staff which, Norman admits, will have to expand if his predictions for Indepth Hygiene's growth are accurate.

And he is always looking for quality staff. 'But being in a small specialist market, we will probably have to train them to do the job.' So what sort of person is he looking for? 'Someone with a bit of gumption,' he laughs. 'They will be well paid but they will have to be willing to work at what is a dirty and difficult job.'

Further, Indepth Hygiene will be putting all its cleaners through the HVCA's new ductwork cleaning Green Book scheme 'whether they know it all or not because it is a benchmark to which we can train future recruits'.

And Norman seems confident that Indepth Hygiene will need them.