The ‘Range’ of Insurance

Without a doubt the most common cause of fire claims in the frying community stems from the range.

Jason Gandy CEO at Fry-Online insurance says “we believe policy holders who have invested in the most up to date equipment and their fire restricting features should be rewarded as they obviously present a better risk to the insurers.

We are working on bringing together a number of range manufacturers and insurance companies, in an attempt to reward fryers that have invested in state of the art equipment, by lowering premiums”.

Modern ranges and extraction systems incorporate many safety features, such as air flow monitors to automatically shut off the power supply if the air stops moving and digital cut outs, which the older equipment does not. Ultimately you could even have an Ansul type fire suppression system fitted, which practically removes the possibility of a range fire spreading. These enhanced features reduce the risk of a major fire and surely this should be reflected in the cost of your premium?

Jason Gandy also points to good “housekeeping” as being an area insurers will focus on in the future as “it makes good sense that policy holders who have invested time and money in ensuring they have good housekeeping policies and servicing contracts in place should be seen as a more attractive risk”. In the future we may see fryers that fail to put good housekeeping practices in place find the insurers restrict the level of cover available.

Below are some examples of good housekeeping: -

Ø Most frying ranges are required to have a thermostat, which ensures that the equipment is shut down if a certain temperature is exceeded.

Ø All frying equipment should be fitted by suitably qualified engineers and subject to a planned service and maintenance programme. The period of time between servicing varies between insurers but is commonly between 6 months and a year.

Ø All sump boxes, filters, traps and grease removal devices should be thoroughly cleaned on a weekly basis (some insurer require this to be done by independent specialist contractors)

Ø All extraction systems including flues, hoods, canopies, extraction motors, fans and the entire length of any ducting should be cleaned at least annually by a specialist contractor.

Ø All oily and greasy waste and cloths should be kept in metal bins and removed from the premises at the end of every day.

Ø The frying area should have adequate fire extinguishing facilities in the near vicinity. These can include foam, dry powder and carbon dioxide extinguishers and fire blankets. Remember that these should always be maintained in effective working order.

Ø All frying equipment should be attended at all times when it is in use.

In the coming months fry-online insurance will be pursuing this further with several top named insurers and hope to be able to announce a number of new initiatives.

Checking the small print

Many policies these days have warranties covering the cleaning and servicing of the ducting and extraction systems. It is vital that you read and understand these warranties fully as failure to comply with these can result in a claim being repudiated.

For example a warranty from a particular policy could read, “all the internal surfaces of the ducting and extraction system must be cleaned and serviced on an annual basis” another may read “the entire length of the ducting and extraction system must be cleaned every 12 months”. Obviously it is far harder to comply with the first warranty, as on most ducting it is virtually impossible to ensure ALL internal surfaces are cleaned.

The key here is that the qualified engineer providing the cleaning service must be able to put in writing the type of cleaning carried out. It is fairly simple for him to clean the entire system but far more difficult to confirm he has cleaned ALL internal surfaces. If your policy contained the first warranty and the service engineer cannot confirm he has cleaned all internal surfaces, any subsequent claim could result in repudiation.