Fire extinguisher inspection log and fire safety checklist for restaurants

A restaurant kitchen has open flames, hot oil and a hood full of grease vapor a few feet above them. The extinguisher by the line and the suppression system in the hood are what stand between a small flare-up and a closed restaurant. Both need checking on a schedule, and the checks need to be written down.

This post has five sheets: an extinguisher register, a monthly inspection log, an annual service record, a hood suppression and hood cleaning log and a training record. It sticks to what OSHA writes and leaves the rest to the people who decide it locally: your fire marshal and your licensed contractor.

This is general information, not legal advice. Your local fire code and fire marshal set rules beyond OSHA's, including where extinguishers go and how often the hood system is serviced. Some states run their own OSHA-approved plans.

What OSHA requires

The rule is 29 CFR 1910.157, "Portable fire extinguishers". The lines that matter to a restaurant:

• Placed where people can use them. The employer "shall mount, locate and identify them so that they are readily accessible to employees without subjecting the employees to possible injury" (1910.157(c)(1)).
• Charged and in place. Extinguishers are "maintained in a fully charged and operable condition and kept in their designated places at all times except during use" (1910.157(c)(4)).
• Close enough. For ordinary combustibles (Class A), "the travel distance for employees to any extinguisher is 75 feet (22.9 m) or less" (1910.157(d)(2)); for flammable liquids (Class B), the distance from the hazard area is "50 feet (15.2 m) or less" (1910.157(d)(4)).
• A monthly look. "Portable extinguishers or hose used in lieu thereof under paragraph (d)(3) of this section shall be visually inspected monthly" (1910.157(e)(2)).
• A yearly service, on record. "The employer shall assure that portable fire extinguishers are subjected to an annual maintenance check." And: "The employer shall record the annual maintenance date and retain this record for one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less" (1910.157(e)(3)).
• Longer-interval work. Stored-pressure dry chemical extinguishers that need a 12-year hydrostatic test are "emptied and subjected to applicable maintenance procedures every 6 years" (1910.157(e)(4)), and extinguishers are hydrostatically tested at the intervals in the standard's Table L-1 (1910.157(f)(2)). Your contractor tracks these; put the due dates in your register so you can ask about them.
• A spare while one is out. "The employer shall assure that alternate equivalent protection is provided when portable fire extinguishers are removed from service for maintenance and recharging" (1910.157(e)(5)).
• Training. Where you provide extinguishers for employees to use, you provide "an educational program to familiarize employees with the general principles of fire extinguisher use and the hazards involved with incipient stage fire fighting" (1910.157(g)(1)), "upon initial employment and at least annually thereafter" (1910.157(g)(2)).

One exemption. An employer with a written policy requiring "the immediate and total evacuation of employees from the workplace upon the sounding of a fire alarm signal", with an emergency action plan and a fire prevention plan, and with no extinguishers in the workplace, is exempt from the section (1910.157(b)(1)). Almost no restaurant works that way, and the local fire code usually requires extinguishers anyway.

Kitchen fires are their own class. Cooking oil and grease fires aren't covered by the Class A and B distances above. Ask your fire marshal or extinguisher contractor which extinguisher goes near the fryers and how far from them. That comes from the fire code your city or state adopted, not from OSHA.

In Florida

Servicing is licensed. "All fire extinguishers and preengineered systems required by statute or by rule must be serviced by an organization or individual licensed under this chapter" (s. 633.304(1), Florida Statutes). Ask your contractor for their license number and write it in the annual record. If your hood system is a pre-engineered one, the same applies to whoever services it.

Sheet 1: the extinguisher register

One line per extinguisher. Give each a number and stick the number on the wall bracket, so the monthly log can refer to it.

Add your exit routes and the meeting point outside at the bottom of the sheet; the same page goes in the new employee orientation.

Sheet 2: the monthly inspection log

OSHA says "visually inspected monthly" and leaves the details to you. This is a check list we'd use; your contractor or the extinguisher's manual may add to it. Initials and the date also go on the tag on each extinguisher.

Anything wrong: take it out of service, put a spare in its place the same day (1910.157(e)(5)), and call the contractor.

Sheet 3: the annual service record

This is the record OSHA requires under 1910.157(e)(3). Keep the contractor's report with it.

Keep it for: one year after the last entry or the life of the shell, whichever is less. In practice, keep it as long as you have the extinguishers.

Sheet 4: hood suppression and hood cleaning

The hood's fire suppression system and the hood's grease cleaning are serviced by contractors on the schedule your fire marshal and your local fire code set. OSHA's 1910.157 covers portable extinguishers, not this system, so the schedule comes from your local code. Your job is to know the dates and check the basics in between.

The "nothing moved" line matters: the nozzles are aimed at specific appliances. If you swap a griddle for a fryer, call the contractor before you cook on it. The filter cleaning itself is in our cleaning schedule and the equipment maintenance log.

Sheet 5: the training record

Training is "upon initial employment and at least annually thereafter". Add it to the first-day orientation, and pick one month each year for the refresher for everyone.

Where Mays fits

• The monthly inspection as a checklist. Under Tasks → Templates, build Sheet 2 with the Monthly frequency and pick a day of the month. Pick a day from 1 to 28, since a 29th, 30th or 31st is skipped in shorter months. Make one task per extinguisher with a Photo answer, so the gauge and the tag are on record with the name and time. See Creating a checklist template.
• The weekly hood check. A Weekly template, with the day ticked, and the five checks from Sheet 4.
• When something's wrong. Post it in the Logbook under Maintenance, and tick Needs follow-up, so the next manager sees it. See The manager logbook.
• The contractor reports. Upload the annual service and hood reports to a Knowledge Base folder, as PDFs or photos. See Your knowledge base.
• The training. A short learning module, assigned to new hires and once a year to everyone. See Assigning training.

What Mays doesn't do: there's no equipment register, so the extinguisher numbers, service dates and due dates live on Sheet 1 or in the knowledge base. Mays doesn't remind you of the annual or 6-year dates; add them as checklist tasks in the month they're due.

Five minutes a month

Number the extinguishers, look at each one every month, get them serviced every year, and know your hood dates. That's the whole program, and the record is what proves it.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll set up the monthly check with you.