TR19® Grease Standards – Insight and Updates

The risk of fire ventilation from build up of grease deposits in kitchen extract systems has resulted in an ever more stringent level of ventilation system cleanliness being required.

BESA first published TR/17 in 1998 in order to give guidance to good practice and to establish standards for testing, cleaning and verification of the internal cleanliness of ventilation systems.

The guide was re-published and renumbered TR/19 and incorporates the reference to the new British and European Standard BS EN 15780 Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems introduced in 2011. 

Updates to TR19® Grease specifications

Recent changes were made to highlight the current best practice for ensuring that kitchen extract systems are maintained to minimise the risk of fire associated with grease accumulation. 

Kitchen extract systems are not covered by BS EN 15780. In this Third Edition, Section 7 has been withdrawn and has been superseded by TR19 Grease, a new, stand-alone specification for Fire Risk Management of Grease Accumulation within Kitchen Extraction Systems. 

Latest TR19® Grease updates

TR19® Grease is a new specification, issued in July 2019 by The BESA (Building Engineering Services Association), which specifically focuses on the fire risk management of grease accumulation within kitchen extraction systems.  Changes to the TR19 guidelines contains updated information regarding the industry standards for managing grease levels within commercial kitchen ventilation systems.

It expands upon and replaces what had been one section of the second edition of the TR19 regulations that provided guidance on duct and kitchen extract system cleaning. Rather than simply providing best[1]practice guidelines, the new TR19® Grease standalone document is a specification in its own right which must be followed by contractors operating in the sector under this specification.

Why TR19® Grease?

The risk of fire from the build up of grease deposits in kitchen extract systems and the expectations of building occupiers and legislators has resulted in an ever more stringent level of ventilation system cleanliness being required, and TR19® Grease details precisely what is required to manage that risk.

Contractors carrying out extract cleaning work must be members of the Building Engineering Services Competence Assessment (BESCA) Ventilation Hygiene Elite (VHE) Scheme if they wish to certify their work as TR19® Grease   Members of the VHE Scheme must also abide by the BESCA Code of Conduct   

TR19® Grease introduces minimum competency levels for technicians carrying out and signing off on-site kitchen extract cleaning. Technicians must now have completed specialist training and hold the BESA Grease Hygiene Technician (GHT) qualification.   

Every time a kitchen extract clean is carried out the contractor must register on the BESCA VHE portal where and when the clean was carried out and whether the system was fully or partially cleaned.

A certificate will then be produced to provide evidence of the compliance of the clean (a small fee is charged by BESCA for each certificate).   

Cleaning frequencies must be regularly reviewed to ensure that grease can be controlled at safe levels. Grease levels must be controlled so as to not exceed a mean average of 200 microns between scheduled cleans. How will the new Ventilation Hygiene Elite scheme ensure that best practice is observed?   

BESCA will monitor and audit the compliance of VHE members, both with its code of conduct and with the TR19® Grease specification  

 VHE members will be audited at regular intervals by BESCA auditors, who will review a selection of completed post-clean reports for compliance auditing purposes.   

BESCA will be able to revoke or reject the membership of contractors who are considered to be in breach of the VHE Scheme’s requirements or code of conduct