During HostMilano, the leading commercial kitchen equipment trade show celebrated earlier this month in Milan, the Foodservice Consultant team gathered leading FCSI Professional Member consultants who discussed pertinent topics of the day.
Foodservice Consultant‘s editor Tina Nielsen hosted a session on ‘Fire suppression and staying safe in the kitchen’, sponsored by Ansul, that featured consultants Anton François FCSI from The Netherlands; Alexander Hofer FCSI from Italy and William Taunton FCSI from Chile. They were joined by Mark Neumann, global director of pre-engineered systems with Ansul for a conversation about the challenges that fire safety in the kitchen often brings.
In front of a full audience at the FCSI booth, they shared insights and experiences from their various parts of the world, exploring the many changing fire risk areas in the kitchen and how to inform clients and partners about staying safe in commercial kitchens.
From Taunton’s experience in Latin America where fire safety regulations don’t exist to Francois’s experience of managing fire risks in homes for the elderly in Holland, the four agreed that education is key.
Mark Neumann, pre-engineered process director of Ansul, said many are reluctant to make the investment but the results of a fire can be devastating. Once they have made the investment, there’s an education piece especially given the transient nature of kitchen staff. As Neumann said, “There is high turnover in restaurants so we certainly have to make sure that the end user is fully aware of what the system is for and how to use it”.
For more information, visit www.specansul.com
