Check a commercial kitchen without weakening food safety

Ordinary rooms stay on the office energy walk. A bill is copied on the electricity-bill log. Return to the hospitality overview for the wider energy list. This walk does not add kitchen checks to the office file.

What the kitchen sheet is allowed to change

Write an observation, a permitted next action, and a responsible person only where the action is allowed.

Do not instruct a gas adjustment, a bypass or a repair. Distinguish an appliance that is merely present during a normal close-down from unsafe operation or an unresolved fault. A fridge that is running is a recorded observation. It is not proof that the temperature, or the whole kitchen, is safe.

In England, Schedule 4 of the Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013 makes it an offence, in operations the schedule covers, to keep certain food above 8°C and to hot-hold certain cooked or reheated food below 63°C. Paragraph 1 says the schedule does not apply to an operation covered by Regulation 853/2004. This page does not decide which regime applies, and it does not teach the schedule’s limited defences as a reason to switch equipment off. This sheet states the England schedule only.

HSE Catering Information Sheet 23 says a mechanical ventilation system should be interlocked so that ventilation failure shuts off the gas, that manual bypasses are not permitted, and that appliances must not be used without the ventilation system in operation.

Fill in one observation per check

Download both files. Save a copy of the blank file and type into that copy.

• Blank walk, kitchen-walk-blank.csv
• Fictional example, kitchen-walk-example.csv

The files are plain CSV. They do not choose the priority and they do not calculate a saving.

The check identifiers are lights_empty_non_food, idle_equipment_listed_safe, fridge_still_running, hot_hold_not_turned_down, extraction_while_cooking and closed_equipment. observation_kind is already_correct, simple_safe_action, normal_closedown_present, unsafe_operation, unresolved_fault or not_applicable. priority is fix_now, schedule, ask_specialist, blocked_safety, no_action_needed or not_applicable.

A proposal to switch a fridge off, lower hot holding, or switch extraction off while cooking equipment is available is blocked_safety. The permitted next action is Do not change it, with nobody assigned to make the change. For extraction that is already off while gas appliances are available, write unresolved_fault and ask_specialist, and write that the affected gas appliances are not used without the required ventilation and that the manager seeks prompt competent advice. fix_now and schedule need a person and a date. no_action_needed and not_applicable leave the person blank.

Worked example: one light, and three controls left alone

The rows are a fictional close-down at Northgate Kitchen on 12 March 2026 at 22:40. The kitchen is invented.

Limits

The sheet does not show that energy use fell and does not choose a tariff. It does not set a temperature. It does not replace a gas engineer. Before a public energy-saving claim, use the green-claims guide.

Sources

• Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, Schedule 4, paragraphs 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7. Opened 10 October 2026.
• HSE Catering Information Sheet 23, Gas safety in catering and hospitality. Ventilation and interlocking. Retrieved 10 October 2026.
• Office energy walk-through, the room sheet this kitchen walk does not replace.