THRIVING IN TOUGH TIMES - IKECA · Interested parties must submit a CV or resume to [email protected]. Their candidacies are then presented to the CB for consideration and balloting

C L E A N I N G T O A H I G H E R S T A N D A R D

ISSUE 33 | SPRING 2012

THRIVING INTOUGH TIMES

IN EACH ISSUE04 Letter from the IKECA President Doug Schuler | Bentley Resources

05 From the Desk of the Executive Director Sarah Hagy | Fernley & Fernley, Inc.

07 Association News

FEATURED ARTICLES10 Exhaust Cleaning Photos in 2011 Jack Grace | Western Commercial Services

11 Thrive in Tough Times: Smart Staff Utilization Analysis Reuben Levine | Scientific Fire

DON’T MISS IN THIS ISSUE14 2012 IKECA Annual Meeting Preliminary Schedule

16 Safety Tips: A Refresher Mike Gronlund

19 Restaurant Grease Dumper Corrals - An Overlooked Source of Add-on Revenue

Skip Lewis | Omni Containment

21 Knowing Who’s Who Among Larger Accounts Tim Greene | Airways Systems

26 Prefabricated Grease Duct Access Doors Can Take the Heat Ductmate

AHJ NEWS24 Windsor, Ontario

ISSUE 33SPRING 2012

The IKECA Journal is an industry publication for cleaners, fire marshals, insurance professionals, facility managers, vendors and other interested parties in the commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning and inspection industry

Serving the Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Industry WorldwideThe IKECA Journal is an industry publication for cleaners, fire marshals, insurance professionals, facility managers, vendors and other interested parties in the commercial kitchen ex-haust cleaning and inspection industry.

IKECA PresidentDoug Schuler, CECS, CESI

Bentley Resources

IKECA Executive DirectorSarah Hagy

IKECA Journal EditorGina Marinilli

IKECA Journal Editorial Review Board Christoper Bisbee Bernard Besal, CECS, CESI Neal R. Iorii, Jr., CECS, CESI Doug Schuler, CECS, CESI Donald Pfleiderer, CECS, CESI Kathy Slomer, CECS

100 North 20th Street, Suite 400Philadelphia, PA 19103

Tel: 215.320.3876Fax: 215.564.2175

Email: [email protected]

The IKECA Journal is a publication of the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association © 2012. All Rights Reserved. For more information or to order additional copies, contact the IKECA headquarters office. Unless otherwise noted, all images are copyright IKECA and their respective owners. Unless otherwise noted, all articles are copyright IKECA. Direct requests for reprint to the IKECA headquarters office. The International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association prints the IKECA Journal to provide its member and other interested parties in the commercial kitchen exhaust cleaning industry with a forum for the discussion of topics of interest to the entire industry. The ideas and opinions expressed in the IKECA Journal are solely those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the view, positions or policies of IKECA, its members, its board of directors, officers or staff. IKECA is not responsible for any claims made in any advertisements, and does not endorse any manufacturer, supplier or vendor. IKECA does not warrant the performance of any member or member employee or subcontractor.

Cover art © iStockphoto | Thinkstock

PAGE 4 | SPRING 2012 THE IKECA JOURNAL

Doug Schuler, CECS, CESIBentley Resources

Letter from the IKECA President

I’m pleased to announce that after many years our name IKECA and its logo are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. This is a very important step for the association because it allows us to de-fend and litigate its misuse. We have engaged the same law firm which reg-istered our logo to draft a process as to how we can handle the misuse of the IKECA trademark by nonmembers. I, as

president, and the board are dedicated to fighting to stop this misuse. If you see violations of our logo or companies misrepre-senting themselves as IKECA members, please call the associa-tion headquarters (215.320.3876). You, as well as your custom-ers, prospects, and the AHJs can easily check member status by searching on the online member directory, “Locate a Member,” on the IKECA website (ikeca.org).

Since logo violators place such a premium on branding them-selves as IKECA members, I challenge you to call and invite them to join IKECA. They, too, can undergo the rigorous appli-cation and certification process you passed as well as make the time and financial investment to ensure cleaning to a higher standard. That way the entire kitchen exhaust cleaning indus-try can benefit.

Aiding us in the process are new members to the team at as-sociation headquarters whom I hope you will welcome warmly. I would like to introduce Sarah Hagy as the new executive di-rector and Jason Harbonic as membership director. They bring fresh ideas and enthusiasm.

Another of our great challenges is engaging our associate members and bringing on new associate members. I would like to propose that we have an associate member as a full voting member on the board. We need greater member participation in all our events and on all committees.

As we approach 2012 we need to grow our membership to have all exhaust cleaning professionals become members of IKECA. Again I challenge our membership to reach out to non-members and sell the features and benefits of being an IKECA member.

I also need all your input to be a successful president. Contact me at [email protected] and we can have a conversa-tion about your concerns. We can’t run the association without your input.

Robert “Doug” Schuler, CECS, CESI, is President at Bentley Resources in Sarasota, Florida. He is serving his second term as IKECA President. Reach him at [email protected].

SPRING 2012 | PAGE 5THE IKECA JOURNAL

Dear Members and Readers,

I am pleased to assume the role of ex-ecutive director for the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association. I bring more than five years experience in managing trade associations such as IKECA. I am working with the board, committees and members to positively impact the industry at large. Joining me as a new member to the IKECA Man-

agement Team is my colleague, Jason Harbonic, with 15 years of membership management experience. We are both excited to be working with IKECA.

On my first day as executive director, I attended a presentation made by a few members to AHJs in Washington, DC. This op-portunity gave me a close look into the important work you and your associates perform on a daily basis. While I still have a lot

to learn about the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry, my big-gest take away from the presentation was the critical role you play in maintaining safe kitchens for employees, patrons and rescue workers. Whether you are a kitchen exhaust cleaner, a supplier to the industry or an AHJ, your contributions lead to safer commercial kitchens every day. I am pleased to represent such an industry.

We had an exciting 2011 Technical Seminar in Milwaukee where I met many IKECA members, industry professionals, and AHJs. The Management Team at Fernley & Fernley, in conjunction with the IKECA Conference Committee, has worked hard to craft the 2012 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. I look forward to see-ing you in California.

Warmly,

Sarah Hagy

Sarah HagyIKECA Executive Director

From the Desk of the Executive Director

SPRING 2012 | PAGE 7

TITLE

THE IKECA JOURNAL

Association NewsNew IKECA Website Now Live!

Check out the clean, crisp new look of ikeca.org! Click around to see all the new helpful new features including resources in-tended to educate and inform restaurant owners and operators as well as AHJs about the KEC industry. If you are a member, you will want to be sure your company information is up-to-date and complete. More effort will be made to point potential customers to finding you through www.ikeca.org through Locate a Member.

Exams Updated with NFPA 96 2011

Three of IKECA’s certification exams – the Certified Exhaust Cleaning Technician (CECT), Certified Exhaust Cleaning Special-ist (CECS), and the Certified Exhaust System Inspector (CESI) – were edited and revised this past summer and fall to reflect changes from the 2008 to 2011 edition of the National Fire Pro-tection Association’s Standard for Ventilation Control and Fire Protection of Commercial Cooking Operations. Implementation of the refreshed exams started at the exam session conducted at the 2011 Fall Technical Seminar & Expo in Milwaukee, WI.

The IKECA Certification Committee chaired by Neal Iorii, Jr., Olympia Maintenance, and comprised of IKECA members with decades of experience in the field, worked on the exam ques-tion revision project during the summer of 2011.

“We went through each existing question and made sure the question itself and the answer choices, correct and incorrect, made sense to us,” said Iorii. “The purpose of these exams is not to ‘trick’ or confuse the people taking them, they are there to make sure the individuals being tested know the standards of our industry. Although we are using the 2011 edition of NFPA 96, all of the content can be found in 2008 and most can be found in 2004.”

The members-only Professional Exhaust Cleaning Technician (PECT) designation program to train new employees also has been updated with the 2011 edition of NFPA 96. Copies of NFPA 96 2011 and other study guides are available from the Online Store on www.ikeca.org.

Standards Update: C10 Approved!

The IKECA Standards Development Committee Consensus Body (CB) held its meeting at the 2011 Technical Seminar. It re-viewed further action on IKECA C10, Standard for Cleaning of Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Systems, the first of three IKECA standards under development. After the meeting, the standard was submitted to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for final approval. It was approved on December 9, 2011.

The CB approved a preliminary outline for the second standard, IKECA I10, Standard for the Inspection of Commercial Kitchen Exhaust Systems. Smaller task forces are working on develop-ment of outline sections. The next meeting will be in April, 2012 in San Francisco.

Call for Volunteers: IKECA strives for balance of all interested and affected parties, giving them an opportunity to participate in development of ANSI-approved IKECA standards. By adher-ing to ANSI’s due process of openness, balance and consensus, IKECA’s standards will serve and protect the public. Please con-tact association headquarters if you would like to be involved and fit in the following interest categories:

• Restaurant industry • Fire prevention authorities • Insurance industry • Code enforcement authorities • Kitchen exhaust system designers, engineers, installers,

manufacturers • End users.

Interested parties must submit a CV or resume to [email protected]. Their candidacies are then presented to the CB for consideration and balloting.

IKECA Trademark Now Registered

In June 2011, IKECA was successful in its application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to register IKECA and its logo. In-terested parties should note that member materials with the updated registered logo are being phased in.

2012 IKECA Annual Meeting

Plan on attending the spring meeting in San Francisco, April 11-14, 2012. This is the premier meeting for KEC owners and operators that will help build businesses. The meeting’s theme is all about profitability and standards.

The keynote presentation, “How to be Wildly Successful in Today’s Economy,” will be given by Tom Grandy, president of Grandy & Associates, of Owensboro, KY. The vision of Grandy & Associates is to “teach contractors how to run profitable com-panies.” Other workshops on running a successful business will be offered.

Exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities are available. Please contact IKECA Headquarters for more information.

PAGE 8 | SPRING 2012

TITLE

THE IKECA JOURNAL

Association News

Scenes from the 2011 Fall Technical Seminar, Milwaukee

IKECA members networking during the morning roundtables. IKECA members networking during a workshop break.

IKECA leaders with keynote speaker Mike McNeel, Gaylord Industries, at the 2011 IKECA Technical Seminar, Milwaukee, WI, October 19-22, 2011. From left to right: Bernard Besal, CECS, CESI; Russ Lewis; Jim Roberts, CECS, CESI; Mike McNeel; Nelson Dilg, CECS, CESI, Doug Schuler, CECS, CESI, Jack Grace, CECS, CESI.

IKECA Canadian Chapter President Bill Doherty, CECS, CESI (left)with keynote speaker Mike McNeel, Gaylord Industries.

IKECA Canadian Chapter President Bill Doherty, CECS, CESI (left) with John Lee, Fire Inspector, City of Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

SPRING 2012 | PAGE 9

TITLE

THE IKECA JOURNAL

Association News

Don Pfleiderer, CECS, CESI conducts Fire Authority Training for more than 40 City of Milwaukee and area inspectors.

A City of Milwaukee inspector consults with speaker Jeff Schadegg, Fire Marshal at Inver Grove Heights

Fire Department, MN (left), who presented his community’s KEC program to the audience.

IKECA members listening to an AHJ presentation.

IKECA board member Randy Rauth, CECS, Hood Cleaning (standing), chats with members at a workshop break.

Scenes from the 2011 Fall Technical Seminar, Milwaukee


TITLEExhaust Cleaning Photos in 2011 and Beyond

When I first laid eyes on the faded, somewhat mangled image of a dark cavernous space with unintelligible black lines framed by the telltale white plastic Polaroid photo frame and punc-tuated by a smear of greasy finger-prints from the photographer, I knew that the industry needed a boost.

“What a tore back mess huh?” the proud cleaner asked me – as I gazed

into the black-on-black photo I nodded, but I wasn’t sure what I was seeing (Nor what “tore back” was for that matter…) – I had a lot to learn.

As luck would have it, I was shown the predecessor of what is now today a standard practice of before and after photos – this seemingly ancient artifact was a clear illustration of the pride this cleaner was trying to show me in his job – how dirty the system was at the start, and then the shining clean sys-tem upon completion of his masterfully executed kitchen by-product elimination expertise. Somehow in that first darkened image, I saw potential and opportunity, but I never could have imagined the progress of technology to make taking and ar-chiving such photos a simpler and easier process.

Fast forward to today – every cell phone has some sort of cam-era, and all of us are in some way amateur photographers. Memory chips in cameras are four or more gigs and my new camera chip has built in Wi-Fi (!?!?!)…. So how exactly do we take all of this technology and use it to better our companies and our industry as a whole?

Establish a standard procedure. Establishing a standard pro-cedure for photographs of the services you perform is one of the single greatest ways that you can show your clients what it is that you are doing for them, and all of that out-of-sight work becomes accessible through your photos. In order to be successful, your program should incorporate the elements of ‘baseline’ or minimum photo requirements to show that all ar-eas of the system are documented. These initial photographs can identify specific points in the system, changes of direction and such, but should provide assurance for you and your cus-tomer that all areas of their system is both accessible and be-ing cleaned every service. Your base photos also provide you a point of reference to refer back to when reviewing current photos. In larger companies this is a key to ensuring that you are able to keep up with multiple teams and multiple systems. Require that the baseline photos be taken every time as a MINI-

MUM and provide this as a part of the training for your techni-cians on their route. If they have the photos and photo loca-tions it will be easier for them to show what they have cleaned and to what level.

Collecting photos should be a requirement. Cameras fail. Things get broken. Teams get rushed. Sometimes your team might have to go back to get a picture of something that is cloudy or obstructed. Training your team to review their photos before they leave the jobsite will help to minimize these frus-trations, but going back to a job to re-take photos a few nights later should be enough of a reminder to your team that you are serious about your photo program. You need to establish a method that makes sense in your operation for photo logs and keys to the picture file names. These can later be databased by client, date, system, etc. Collecting a full set every service and placing responsibilities on your team to show their work creates protection as well as a well-deserved sense of pride in their job well done.

Remove access to old photos. Wipe the card, take the files, but do not al-low the photos back into circulation. A date and time stamp makes ‘fak-ing’ photos a lot more difficult, but not impossible. Sometimes people spend too much time finding ways around the system rather than fol-lowing it. Stop this nonsense before

it begins. You have confidence that every photo is new, fresh and accurate and so too will your client.

Review the photos. Either you or someone you trust in your or-ganization should have the task of reviewing photos. This will catch any missing or unmatched photos and also when things are mislabeled or improperly entered into your system this will prevent you from hurting your credibility. If you send a photo of a system to a client that is not their system, it is unlikely they will ever trust your system (and perhaps your company) again! Don’t fall into a false sense of security – look at all the photos, and preferably have them reviewed by an IKECA Certified Ex-haust System Inspector.

Archive your photos and keep them around. That way you have a history of the systems, their buildup between cleanings, and the job you have done for your clients. I recommend keeping these records electronically for as long as you have the capac-ity to do so – with the increase in technology and decrease in expenses for that technology, this should be a reasonable ex-pense for your business.

Jack Grace is the Chief Operating Officer of Western Commercial Services in Las Vegas, Nevada. Jack is currently serving as the Vice President of IKECA.

…one of the single greatest ways that you can show your clients what it is that you are doing for them…

By Jack Grace, Western Commercial Services

© Stockbyte | Thinkstock


TITLEBy Reuben Levine

Thrive in Tough Times: Smart Staff Utilization Analysis

I recall twenty-plus years ago when I started my profession-al career as a credit analyst for a bank. The first case study we tackled in training was the famous sto-

ry of the rise and fall of People Express Airlines (“PEA” or later dubbed “People Distress Airline”). In short, PEA began in 1981 as a northeast regional airline. By 1983, PEA became viewed as an in-stant success with the $149 one-way fare from Newark Airport to London’s Gatwick Airport. To every destination, fares for PEA would sellout in 24 hours for travel months ahead of time. How-ever, by 1987 PEA was forced to file for bankruptcy. The case study itself was de-signed to teach us future credit analysts how to identify the pitfalls of:

• Growing too fast

• Merging with other entities where the overhead and staffing overlap and/or gaps were not fully rationalized ahead of time, and

• What happens when your assump-tions are wrong to the point that one can’t service its debt load (i.e. the cap-ital used for growth).

Beneath these high-level “take-aways,” was the notion that, prior to the acqui-sition binge that PEA embarked upon, was a phenomenal story. It was a story of some airline executives that under-stood how to price fares in a fashion that could beat that of any competitor. They were one of the first to introduce “peak” and “off-peak” pricing, and of-fered only “economy class” seating with an occasional “Premium Class,” giving passengers a little extra legroom and seating them closer to the exit for early deplaning. Many airlines were quick to analyze PEA’s winning formula, and they began to introduce their own schemes to be more competitive. PEA’s early years sounds much like a very successful air-line we travel today: Jet Blue. What can

IKECA members learn from the PEA story that will help us better understand our business’s financial health, and how to best focus our efforts to grow our top-line and get the most to fall to our bot-tom line?

Understanding Staff Utilization

In order to develop a reporting mecha-nism to “scratch the surface” as to how Staff Utilization tracking can benefit your business you need to gather and assimilate information. The first set of information helps us gain quick and re-curring insight into our primary oper-ating asset’s utilization and efficiency. In the case of PEA, total capacity is the number of seats per aircraft, and to de-rive utilization is a simple ratio of actual passengers in relation to total capacity. For IKECA membership, by and large, the majority of our business capacity is de-fined by the total field force labor hours we have at our disposal, organized into crews. For us, labor hours and crews are likened to seats and airplanes to an air-line.

How do we measure utilized time? Most would agree that utilized time is the time where we are earning revenue, or when our technicians are at a job site cleaning, inspecting or repairing an exhaust system. We typically know in advance the window of time we have to perform the service and certify the customer’s location, and we back into the manpower necessary to do the job.

This utilized time is sometimes referred to as “billable hours.” However, inherent in this is the notion that in our business, we can never have a fully utilized labor force. Aside from the traditional vaca-tion, holiday and sick days which come out of our total payroll hours, there are additional spans of unutilized “wind-shield” time getting from one job to the next, training time, “down-time” be-tween jobs, and stolen time that all fac-tor into our true efficiency level, or Staff Utilization Rate.

At Scientific, we began to take our total technician payroll hours and collected information on how much time each in-dividual field technician was actually on site at a job. Dividing the former by the latter yielded our Utilization Rate for each shift.

In the above example, the night-shift utilization rate is 60%, and the day-shift utilization rate is even worse, at 45%. We also need to realize that these utili-zation rates are probably too generous, when we acknowledge the fact that we can have one job requiring six men (the “anchor job”) and the other two jobs wrapped around this one job only requires three men each. In this some-what exaggerated example, having six workers assigned to one vehicle working the entire shift has in it additional unuti-lized time, as two of the three jobs are over-staffed in order to account for the “anchor” job on the route.


TITLEThrive in Tough Times: Smart Staff Utilization Analysis

Although the graph on page 11 depicts a hypothetical scenario, in speaking with my IKECA peers, these types of re-sults are not atypical. From Scientific’s perspective, once we had this data, we quickly realized why we were losing good business to low-cost providers. We were too often pricing in a 100% premi-um to our labor to cover unutilized pay-roll. We figured that if we could get our arms around this quickly, we could rein-vest the cash-gain into things like qual-ity control and customer service, an area customers are typically willing to pay a premium for, and of course improve our Yield.

Coincidentally, realizing this at the onset of this most recent economic downturn was critical, as it was vital in our being able to offer new and existing customers “off-peak” pricing (because they opted for work to be performed when our work force was often idle), or give back to our customers some of the efficiency gains (in price reductions, introductory offers for new services or even “free services”) to solidify the relationship during tough times. We also benefited from the ability to better understand how to balance our shifts and manpower in between jobs to cut out unutilized time that existed as a result of the “that’s-the-way-we-always-did-things-around-here” syndrome.

The real shocker came when we took our target Revenue-Per-Hour (RPH) rate we use for pricing new business and saw how much we were leaving on the table due to our lack of field force efficiency.

If we go back to the above example, let us say the desired RPH is $70. Let’s call this our desirable minimum. If total pay-roll hours were 1,000 in a given period, a fully utilized work force should yield $70,000 in revenue for that period. See Table 1.

Based on 60% and 45% utilization rates for night and day shifts, respectively, there is a total of $32,200 of revenue opportunity for 460 hours in unutilized labor expense. At an average wage of $15/hour, this “would-be” duct clean-

ing company is spending $6,900 on un-utilized labor. This is a sunk cost. As we said earlier, we can never achieve a fully utilized state, but we can look at the top line and bottom line impacts of a nomi-nal improvement in efficiency if we do not have to add any additional payroll hours to deliver additional services to customers.

Tables 2 and 3 show the impact of a 15% improvement in field force efficiency, and the net impact of such a change with a 14.3% reduction in Target RPH.

Just to put this into perspective, let’s relate to what 1,000 payroll hours is in reality. If this is what we pay on a weekly basis, then 200 hours a day with some modest over-time averaged throughout equates to a company with a twenty-man field force (ten two-man crews or five four-man crews depending on how

you’re set up). Whether you are smaller or larger, a 15% improvement in efficien-cy should be viewed as significant, sum-marized in Table 4.

In talking to my many IKECA peers I have discovered that there are many sharp business men and women who can sim-ply visualize these concepts and impacts in their heads as they review their daily work schedules. After all, this seems very logical and intuitive. Where we fall short is when we, who in the greater scheme of things are small business op-erators, don’t fully comprehend the or-der of magnitude at a dollar-and-cents level. We don’t attempt to translate the dollars spent on better technology, ad-ditional vehicles, more competent su-pervision or other efforts to improve effi-ciency, and effectively compare them to their perceived short, medium and long-term monetary gains. Furthermore, as

Table 4

Table 1

Table 2

Table 3


we grow our businesses, we sometimes lose our grip on the day-to-day. As such, we need to employ management tools and processes, bestowing them upon subordinates responsible for maintaining efficiency, and better yet, improving it al-together.

Here are common sense examples I learned from numerous IKECA peers over the years as to how to improve work-force efficiency. Success or failure of these programs will immediately show up in your Staff Utilization reports once imple-mented.

• Set target utilization rates at a higher than current level, developing incen-tive programs for scheduling personnel and field supervisors who successfully raise the bar.

• Develop attractively priced services for customers who will take off-peak ser-vices, for instance:

◊ Discounted kitchen exhaust ser-vices for night clubs, schools and other odd-hour venues

◊ Residential apartment building trash chute cleaning, trash compac-tor vestibule cleaning, and laundry exhaust that may be done mid-day while our traditional customers are busy cooking.

◊ Contemplate other short-interval services like exterior building pres-sure washing.

• Cross-train workforce to perform ad-ditional services while on location (e.g. fire suppression/extinguisher inspec-tions, follow-up quality-control site surveys, etc.) that don’t disrupt their operation as much as exhaust cleaning might

• Provide pro-rated price reductions or “service-teasers” to customers to in-centivize them to take services ear-lier than required if they can be com-bined with other routes on other days to reduce “wind-shield” time (an area where a modest software investment can go a long way).

• Modify your shifts altogether eliminat-ing “on-the-clock” workforce at peri-ods of low utilization. Numerous IKECA peers do not even run day-shifts as a result.

• Have workers report directly to first job as opposed to home office to eliminate “wind-shield” time transporting work-ers (not always feasible).

• Bring workers back to home office dur-ing low utilization periods to perform warehouse-based tasks, removing those resources from your total billable-hour calculation altogether.

What we have noticed as a by product is that there is a clear attitude shift that occurs when you show Staff Utilization trending to your management team on a recurring basis. Here’s where they come up with ideas and know that ownership is always watching.

We have all spent the last several years fo-cusing on reducing fixed costs and SG&A, but in the end it is field force efficiency that defines our ability to remain com-petitive and profitable. Some of us are further up the learning curve than others on this topic, but having the “vital signs” of efficiency frequently in your in-box will allow you to respond to deteriorations quickly and proactively, and help you bet-ter understand what initiatives have the potential to bear meaningful results.

…once we had this data, we quickly real-ized why we were losing good business to low-cost providers…

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Go to www.ikeca.org, log in with your member user-name/password, and click on the Online Store to auto-matically receive member pricing/quantity options on merchandise. Call 215.320.3876 with any questions.

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www.ikeca.org IKECA - 215-564-3484

2012 IKECA Annual MeetingApril 11 – 14, 2012

Hilton San Francisco Financial DistrictSan Francisco, California

Plan Ahead!

Exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities are available. Please contact IKECA Headquarters for more information. KEC operators and owners! This is the

premier event to help you build your business.

Keynote Speaker

Don’t miss Keynote Speaker Tom Grandy’s presentation: “How to be Wildly Successful in Today’s Economy.” This session will help your bottom line by covering topics like: • What to do when times are slow (evaluate the company, create systems, etc.) • Three things every customer wants from their contractor • Eight things to learn from a VERY successful contractor • Seven things you need to brainstorm with all your employees • Understanding the basic costs of doing business • Overcoming the fear factor of raising your rates

If you want your company to experience profitable growth in any economy, including this one, don’t miss this meeting!

International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association100 N. 20th St., Suite 400Philadelphia, PA 19103Phone: (215) 320-3876

Fax: (215) [email protected]

www.ikeca.org

Tom Grandy is president of Grandy & Associates, based in Owensboro, KY. The vision of Grandy & Associates is to “teach contractors how to run profitable companies.” Tom has been the general manager of a service company, Director of Company Development for the Dial One Franchise and currently presents his nine seminar/workshops to contractors across the country and in Canada including the industry acclaimed three-day “Basic Business Boot Camp.”

Tom has presented programs for ACCA, PHCC, MCA, and SMACNA plus distributors and manufacturers across the country. Tom is also the founder of of the web-based, “Service Contractors BUSINESS Presentation of the Month.” Tom also writes numerous articles for trade magazines including Contracting Business News, HVAC Insider and regular monthly articles for RSES Journal, Reeves Journal and Contracting Canada. He is a 1970 graduate of Virginia Tech and brings a unique perspective to the industry with his industrial engineering degree and more than 30 years experience.

In addition to his keynore address at the 2012 IKECA Annual Meeting, Tom Grandy will also lead two must-see breakout sessions:

1. Analyzing The KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) in Your Service Department

Find Out:

• Why service is often under priced

• Who is really setting the standards in your service department

• What KPIs need to be set (and tracked) within your service department

• How “attaboys” can bring your customer service to new levels

• The real reasons for poor performance

2. Cash Flow Budgeting and Collections

You will learn now to:

• Create a month-by-month, department-by-department, cash flow budget (what will happen, when?)

• Project monthly cash flow needs (how negative will you go…when?)

• Create a collections policy to insure cash flow

• Pick up dozens of collections tips that will allow you be be paid on time… resulting in a more positive cash flow for your company!

Tom GrandyPresident of Grandy &

Associates


Safety Tips: A Refresher List Kitchen exhaust cleaners work with many hazards. Crews work at night, with heights, slippery roofs and floors, high pressure hot water, caustic chemicals, electricity, darkness, sharp ob-jects, heavy tools, noise, hot equipment, fuel, inclement weath-er, and the unknown. How, with these many obstacles, can we safely do our jobs? The answer is to be prepared. Here are tips I know work, from my more than 32 years in the business.

Combating the Inevitable Accident

1. First and foremost, be alert.

2. Never work when exhausted. Lack of attention greatly in-creases your chance of accident and injury.

3. Be drug free, including prescription drugs. NEVER work under the influence.

4. Know all your medical history and get frequent check ups. Hidden medical situations can put your safety at great risk.

5. Be able to adjust to “night work.” Some people are simply not able to make the transition and need to concede before getting hurt.

Trust Your Partner

1. Know with whom you are working. Do they have medical concerns? Or are they taking medications that could affect their performance?

2. Do not work with anyone you cannot properly communicate with.

3. Be certain your co-workers are drug free and alert.

4. Teach each other not to panic… it works!

5. Never work alone… it is possible, but the risks are too great.

Survey Your Job Sites

1. Recognize the possibility of hidden dangers.

2. Believe in Murphy’s Law: Whatever bad thing could happen, will happen. If you account for possible situations, the like-lihood of an accident is diminished because of precautions you have taken.

3. Train your sales team. They must recognize safety issues that call for added time or added staff.

4. Know the location of safety items such as fire extinguisher, phone, first aid kit, emergency exits, etc.

5. Keep an eye on the back door. Many jobs require an extra person just for security. Be sure your sales staff can recognize when this too will be needed.

Understand the Operation of Your Job Sites

1. Know how to shut off the gas.

2. Know the location of circuit breakers.

3. Understand electricity and water do not mix.

4. Understand the proper usage of lock out/ tag out kits.

5. Know where the main water valve is and how to shut it off in case of accidental discharge due to a broken fire head.

6. Be aware of and protect everything under the exhaust system.

7. Have the owner/manager’s phone number readily available and security’s number when applicable.

Carry with You What You Need

1. Cell phone at all times! It is possible to get locked in a stair-well, elevator, or have a roof door lock behind you.

2. MSDS sheets for all chemicals used.

3. Phone numbers of complete staff and emergency numbers for co-workers (in case you need to contact their families).

4. First aid and eye wash kits within reach.

Personal Protection Equipment

1. Have proper safety gear, inspect it often and refuse to work without it.

2. Inventory your PPE every night. If you need something, pur-chase it or get the information to the correct person imme-diately and demand quick turnaround. If you let them know when an item is wearing out, the person responsible has time to get replacements.

3. Never work on a faulty ladder. Destroy a broken ladder so it will not be saved by someone and reused. (You can still be liable if someone injures themselves climbing your aban-doned ladder.)

4. Never work without eye protection.

5. Do not wear loose fitting clothing, jewelry, or items that block vision.

6. Always carry a backup flashlight. Lights break and when you need one there is no substitute.

Proper Attire

1. Proper apparel is not only impor-tant to your company image; it plays a huge role in safety.

2. Don’t be distracted from safety by low-hanging, loose pants.

3. Long hair must be tied and placed under the shirt to prevent it get-ting caught in a pulley.

4. No carpenter loops on pants which can get caught on a ladder.

5. Be careful of jewelry which can get caught and can conduct electricity.

6. In the case of an alarm going off, teach your crews to return to their truck with the headlights and dome lights on and doors or windows open. Place hands on the dash as officers approach.

© PhotoObjects.net | Thinkstock


Driving to and from Job Locations

1. Perform pre-employment driving tests. KEC trucks are heavy, full of chemicals and are usually on the road before snow plows.

2. Have a company-wide speed limit. Tie your GPS into an alert that contacts a manager if a company vehicle exceeds the speed limit.

3. Check lights daily, keep mirrors and windows clean.

4. Do not allow cell phone use while driving.

5. Keep vehicles in proper mechanical order.

6. Rotate drivers to keep them alert.

7. Allow enough time, don’t exceed the speed limit.

8. Get in the habit of checking for construction delays, acci-dents and keep up-to-date on weather reports.

9. Be aware of nocturnal animals on the road, especially deer.

Allow No One in the Store You Are Working

1. Do NOT allow unknown visitors into your job site.

2. If you show up to a job where you have a key and find the door unlocked, do NOT enter. Call the police. The police can check it out. After it is cleared, they will have a time-stamped record of your crew being there.

3. First come, first serve. Do NOT allow exterminators in when you are cleaning the hoods. Schedulers should inquire that both services are not being performed on the same night. Hood cleaning chemicals, airborne, mixed with bug killer can give you toxic poisoning.*

* This happened to me and nearly cost me my life. Feel free to ask!

Have a Game Plan

1. Discuss procedures on the way to the job.

2. Report ALL job site safety issues in writing to the owner/ manger of the store. This proves knowledge of issues and failure to fix can determine neglect and redirect liability.

3. Always know where your partner is and never walk away from your post without his/her knowledge. Count on each other.

4. Document job site safety issues on your work orders so they can be added as FYI for the next crew.

First Aid Training

1. Hire professionals to teach your staff first aid.

2. Get certified in CPR.

3. Panic promotes shock. Shock can cause death. Practice promotes knowledge, knowledge prevents panic.

4. Insurance costs can be cheaper if certified and WILL be cheaper with fewer accidents.

Have Organized Safety Meetings

1. Discuss in detail any and all accidents since your last meeting.

2. Keep minutes and consider videotaping.

3. Make meetings mandatory, keep attendance.

4. Visual aids help and keep boredom under control.

5. Get crews involved. Have them write down ideas to discuss before the meetings.

6. Get IKECA CCUs for safety meetings.

File First Report of Injury Immediately

1. Follow the laws of your state. Fill them out and send them in ASAP.

2. Make sure employees are not afraid to turn in accident re-ports. Let them know they will not lose their job for reporting an injury; reporting needs to be mandatory.

3. Do not tolerate carelessness. Write up employees and disci-pline any such behavior.

4. Require a drug test for all injuries needing medical attention.

5. Always perform an accident investigation and include the findings in crew safety meetings.

6. Acknowledge safe workers. Discuss safety record in wage in-crease decisions.

7. Learn from your mistakes. Do not allow lightning to strike twice.

8. Post safety messages, and keep them fresh.

Do Not Force Unsafe Duties

1. Know the laws! Employees have the right to refuse work they deem unsafe.

2. Employees have the right to call in OSHA to inspect the job site.

3. Employees have the right to refuse the duty until the site is inspected.

4. Employees will receive 8 hours of pay if the site was proven to be unsafe.

5. Purchase or rent all needed equipment to perform tasks safe-ly and within the guidelines of the law.

Michael Gronlund, CECS, CESI, is in charge of safety and opera-tions for Enviromatic Corporation of America Inc. His nearly 32 years in the business enables him to design some of the safest, most respected, and profitable operations in the industry. He can be contacted at [email protected].

© Brand X Pictures | Thinkstock


Restaurant Grease Dumpster Corrals – An Overlooked Source of Add-On RevenueBy Skip Lewis, Omni Containment

More than just hood and duct cleaners, kitchen exhaust cleaners can offer solu-tions and additional products and ser-vices that will benefit the restaurant by making it safer, cleaner, and/or compli-ant with the laws and codes that pertain to the restaurant industry.

Fire suppression products and services, as well as rooftop grease containment sys-tems, have been offered for a long time now and have proven to be excellent sources of additional income for exhaust cleaning companies across the country. More recently, because of stricter codes and aggressive promotion by many hood companies, fan hinging systems are mak-ing their way onto more and more restau-rant rooftop fans. This development has made the job of cleaning fans much eas-ier and safer for restaurant service pro-viders and has been an add-on product that protects the restaurant while giving a substantial boost to the bottom line for the hood and duct cleaner. But could there be other services to offer that you might have overlooked?

How about the grease dumpster corral?Somewhere in the back of the restaurant parking lot or maybe off to the side of

the building, there is a great, mostly un-tapped source of revenue. That is where the restaurant keeps a grease dumpster, a receptacle for the leftover grease and oil generated during the course of daily frying, grilling and baking of meat and other grease- and oil-producing fare. This leftover sludge gets transported to the grease dumpster by individuals who

sometimes may lack the hand-eye coor-dination to accurately empty this residue into a 4’ x 8’ bin. Sometimes the grease dumpster itself has flaws that allow the grease to seep out onto the concrete or asphalt. Whatever the cause, many grease dumpster corral areas are abso-lute disaster zones. The acidic grease works its way into the asphalt, which will need to be repaired or will be left to crumble. Most grease dumpsters are hidden from public view behind an en-closed fence or cinder block wall. Some are not, and are an unappetizing eye-sore if the area is neglected. The greasy ground cover is nasty to walk through at best and a potentially dangerous slip-and-fall hazard to anyone who has cause to be in the area. The restaurant could also face penalties from various agencies because of the environmental damage that can occur when rainstorms wash the grease into the ground, the surrounding parking lot, and into nearby storm drains.

Each time you have a hood cleaning scheduled, take an extra five minutes and inspect the grease dumpster corral area. If you are making a proposal to a potential new customer, inspect the


corral area along with the interior and rooftop of the restaurant. You will come across as a thorough and knowledgeable service provider that the restaurant own-er can have confidence in. If you are going out for dinner, take a peek at the grease dumpster area when you park the car. You will find many corral areas that are well kept and clean. Fine, your additional service isn’t needed there. But those that look like The Odd Couple’s Oscar Madi-son’s kitchen – those are sources of that additional income you are looking for.

If you come across a restaurant that has a greasy mess in the corral area, bring it to the attention of the restaurant owner or general manager. There is a possibility you can show it to him or her first hand since the grease dumpster is much more accessible than a rooftop fan, for exam-

ple. Or take digital pictures if the owner is unavailable. Make notes about the condi-tions you observe. Then inform the owner what you can do to solve the problem and offer a proposal. Be sure you know how to clean up that mess. One way is with a power washer and an alkaline degreaser.

If that is the method you choose, be sure to follow proper guidelines and environ-mentally safe practices. In other words, do not power wash the grease down a storm drain! You and the restaurant will both be candidates for heavy fines if

you are observed committing that viola-tion. The contaminated water must be trapped or otherwise contained. You may also consider a system that catches and absorbs the grease before it reaches the pavement below the grease dumpster. If you would like to see one such system at work, check out the video for the Lane Guard at www.omnicontainment.com.

You are looking for a boost in your busi-ness. Your restaurant customer may have an unsolved problem. A short walk out to the grease dumpster corral may be the answer to both!

Skip Lewis leads Sales and Customer Relations at Omni Containment Sys-tems in Elgin, Illinois. Feedback on this article or questions can be directed to [email protected].

If you are making a proposal to a poten-tial new customer, inspect the corral area along with the interior and rooftop of the restaurant.

Restaurant Grease Dumpster Corrals

YOUR AD HEREHow many potential customers might you reach through an advertisement in the IKECA Journal?

Advertise in the IKECA Journal

Published – two times per year

Circulation – 500+ IKECA member and industry companies.

Published online and accessible by IKECA members

Editorial includes Feature Stories, How To Articles, Educational opportunities and much more!

Contact [email protected] for a 2012 rate sheet and advertising specifications.

Deadline for Summer 2012 issue is May 18, 2012

Knowing Who’s Who Among Larger AccountsOne of the most valuable things I have learned in my years at Airways Cleaning is that knowing who your audience is, in both sales and service, is extremely valuable. This article is about larger accounts which have a variety of departments.

Most of our dealings with customers fall into several catego-ries. Our best opportunities for a profitable sale usually occur when we are dealing with the director of engineering or main-tenance department. This is because they are almost universal-ly more knowledgeable and concerned with fire safety and will respond more positively to the IKECA message, “quality service is the key.” Directors of engineering and maintenance are famil-iar with fire and building codes as part of their jobs. They will have a much higher level of understanding of duct systems and the importance of cleaning the areas that are not readily visible or accessible.

The chef and the food beverage managers will be more tuned into how the hood and kitchen areas look. They will focus more on issues. Issues such as: Did we clean up after ourselves, did you leave the kitchen in proper order, etc. It amazes us when we can clean a duct that has been neglected for years, but get the morning-after phone call for a spot the size of a quarter on the counter or a puddle of dirty water by the back door. Our experience is that the engineering staff is more likely to ac-

knowledge the value of doing the correct job than the food & beverage folks, and therefore be more understanding of paying an appropriate price for the service.

Regarding scheduling, the food and beverage manager is usu-ally our best resource. They are aware of opening and closing times and special events taking place and work with us when we arrive. If we schedule cleaning work only with engineering, there is always a good chance the message will not be deliv-ered to the kitchen staff correctly. To avoid miscommunication, we email appointment schedules with the engineering, stew-arding, kitchen, security and any outside janitorial contractor that may be involved with the customer. Everyone gets the same message.

Upon arrival at the customer it is always best to check in with both security and engineering, especially if you need to discon-nect power to exhaust fans or ventilator controls that may be tied into fire systems. It is also helpful to work with night en-gineering regarding any issues of inaccessibility to ductwork, and security for roof access. If you need to speak to anyone the next day you can refer back to night personnel you were deal-ing with. Crew leaders should get names and email addresses of the staff members they deal with.

The final thought, then, is that you can never have enough com-munication with your customers. By taking the time to “know your customer,” operations and sales can run more smoothly.

Tim Greene, CECS, CESI, is general manager of Airways Cleaning, Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

… engineering staff is more likely to acknowledge the value of doing the correct job than the food & beverage folks, and there-fore be more understanding of paying an appropriate price for the service.


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Prefabricated Grease Duct Access Doors Can Take the HeatBy Ed Rafalski, Director of Sales and MarketingDMI Companies The State of Connecticut embarked on a huge construction proj-ect with Gateway Community College (GCC) to add a new $198 million campus in downtown New Haven. The 358,000-square-foot campus is the largest construction project ever under-taken by the state, and its first public building designed to be LEED Gold-Certified. It promises to increase GCC’s enrollment capacity by 50 percent, making it one of the fastest growing community colleges in Connecticut.

The school is a massive undertaking and consists of two four-story buildings connected by a bridge. One building houses a large commercial kitchen for the culinary arts program and requires high temperature ducting for the burner hoods. Gen-erally this is not a problem, but the building’s unusual design created a few complications.

Grease ducts, unlike ducting used for general HVAC, are sus-ceptible to high temperature fires because of the grease that accumulates on the inside of the ducting. Periodic cleanings by a certified service provider are required, and it’s important to make access as convenient as possible so it’s done quickly and efficiently.

Standard practice is to run grease ducting vertically with a minimum number of directional changes to the outside, leav-ing fewer locations for grease to collect and create a fire hazard. The engineer for the Gateway Community College had no other choice but to run the grease ducting horizontally for access to an outside wall.

The grease ducting also requires a special insulation wrap to prevent internal fires from igniting combustibles outside the ducting as well as outside fires from igniting grease within the ducting. Historically, rigid fire-rated gypsum or calcium-silicate board was used as the insulators but today flexible high tem-perature fiber blankets do a better job and are easier to install.

Grease ducts also require a means of access to remove the fat and oil build-up, and this is where access doors play a critical role.

“Code requirements dictate a cleanout door be installed every 20’ and at each change of direction when running the grease

duct horizontally,” said Glenn Goyer, Specifying Engineer for B V H Integrated Services in Bloomfield, CT. “We needed to find a supplier of cleanout doors that would not only meet the fire code but one that preferably was a mated-system with the high temperature insulation that blankets the ducting.”

Goyer said they specified Ductmate’s ULtimateTM and F2 pre-fabricated grease duct access doors because he was very famil-iar with their easy installation Sandwich® design. Goyer also liked the fact that the Ductmate doors had been tested and approved by Intertek Testing Services with high temperature insulation as a single system.

The school’s kitchen has 11 grease hoods in total with 7 ducts running 300 feet each horizontally. That means there is con-siderable setup and installation to get the ducting and doors installed correctly the first time.

“The school is a state project and that makes the installation even more critical,” said Goyer. “The fire marshals and inspec-tors are exceptionally thorough and we need to be absolutely certain the ducting is installed exactly to code.”

Because of the nature of the project, and the number of clean-out doors required, the duct fabrication process needed to go smoothly to stay on schedule while meeting safety inspection requirements. This is where the Ductmate ULtimateTM and F2 sandwiched doors proved their worth.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, Rafalski has to his accomplishment BSME, MSME and EMBA degrees. He began his career with Ductmate Industries, Inc. as chief engineer for the organization, oversaw product development, and is the holder of two patents. Rafalski later joined the sales and operations of Ductmate west of the Rockies, where he remained until his posi-tion as Director of sales and marketing for all business units at DMI Companies. A strong advocate of smart building design and sustainable manufacturing, he is instrumental in Ductmate’s leadership position in the marketplace environmentally-friendly products.

PLEASE NOTE: If you rely on attending IKECA meetings or conferences to obtain the required CEUs, attendance is tracked, and certificates of attendance issued based on actual attendance.

*Acceptable organization conferences include: NADCA, ASHRAE, NAFA, NFPA, NAFED, RFMA, NASFM. For all others, please contact IKECA to confirm eligibility. Continuing Education is valued at 0.1 CEU per one hour of content.

**Acceptable in-house training includes: OSHA Safety Training; OSHA 8 hour and 10 hour training; Manufacturer-specific training; Red Cross. For all others, please contact IKECA to confirm eligibility. Continuing Education is valued at 0.1 CEU per one hour of content.

Successfully passing jurisdictional exam:NYC, Boston, Mass, etc.


By Dave O’Neil, Fire Prevention OfficerWindsor Fire & Rescue Services

AHJ Corner

Editor’s Note: IKECA welcomes this contri-bution from an AHJ with one of the most stringent programs in Canada.

Windsor, Ontar-io is the South-ernmost city in Canada and has a population of 225,000 per-sons. We have approximately 700 restaurants that have com-mercial kitchens

that produce grease-laden vapors and are governed by NFPA 96. Once per year all restaurants in our municipality are in-spected through our business license pro-gram. Our Fire Prevention Division is de-tailed with the following responsibilities: public education, fire investigations, life safety inspections and enforcement. Our current complement consists of two su-pervisors, two public educators and eight fire prevention officers.

In December of 2006 Windsor Fire and Rescue responded to a large restaurant fire with a report that fire was already visible above the roof line. The morning cleaning staff at this restaurant called 911 and reported that flames were com-ing out of the chimney in this establish-ment’s commercial kitchen. Twenty-three fire fighters spent approximately three hours to bring this fire under control. Upon fire crews arrival they began their fire attack in the interior of the structure. Approximately ten minutes prior to the roof collapsing into the interior of this structure, crews were luckily ordered out.

I was called in to investigate this fire for origin and cause but with the large dollar loss being approximately $1,500,000, the

Ontario Office of The Fire Marshall was contacted to be the lead investigative authority for this fire. The Fire Marshall’s Office sent one investigator and one en-gineer to Windsor to determine what had occurred in this fire. A thorough scene examination was conducted and on the third day of this fire investigation a back hoe was utilized to remove the commer-cial kitchen exhaust system from the fire debris. When this exhaust system ducting was opened, there was a copious amount of grease in the inside of the ducting. All evidence indicated that the cause of this fire was an electrical issue with the up-blast fan. Contributing factors that al-lowed this fire to spread throughout the building was the heavily grease contami-nated ducting, and this ducting was also not grease tight. I also note that this com-mercial kitchen ducting was inside a fire rated, double dry walled chimney.

This structure has been used as a restau-rant since 1979 and there were never any access hatches servicing the middle and upper flue, so these areas could not be inspected or cleaned. The last document-ed cleaning of the commercial kitchen ducting had occurred approximately five months prior to this fire’s occurrence. The paperwork this cleaning company had provided the owner did not indicate that the work had been completed to NFPA 96 guidelines nor did it indicate that they were not able to inspect and or clean the upper ducting.

With this information, the Windsor Fire & Rescue Fire Prevention Division, which regularly inspects all commercial kitch-ens annually, looked at these systems in great detail. We soon discovered that the majority of the exhaust systems were not being maintained to the NFPA 96 standard. These systems were heavily grease laden and they did not have access hatches where required so they could be cleaned and completely inspected at regular intervals. This information was passed onto the Chief Fire Prevention Of-ficer Lee Tome and to the Assistant Chief Fire Prevention Officer Richard Marr. My superiors indicated that going forward we would require documentation from

all cleaning companies that their stated work had been completed to the NFPA 96 standard and that the entire system had been inspected and cleaned.

All stakeholders (commercial kitchen cleaning companies, building inspectors and commercial kitchen installers) were invited to a meeting in late 2007 where we discussed the NFPA 96 standard and what would be expected of these com-panies going forward. In this meeting we made it very clear what our expectations, as AHJ, were for the cleaning companies and for the installers. The local building department supervisors, who enforce the Ontario Building Code, indicated that any hatches that are added to existing com-mercial kitchens must be done by certi-fied installers. An Ontario Building Code permit would also be required as the ad-dition of the hatches is considered a ma-terial alteration to these systems.

The Ontario Fire Code defines an Owner as: “any person, firm or corporation hav-ing control over any portion of the build-ing or property under consideration and includes the persons in the building or property.”

We went to our Crown Attorney’s Office and asked if the above definition would describe companies or persons that are contracted to do work on a property by the owner on title. The Crown’s Office indicated that persons contracted to do work on others’ property are in fact the owners of the work that they do and could be held accountable if that work was not performed properly. With this in-formation from the Crown Attorney’s Of-fice, we conveyed to all stakeholders that they would be prosecuted if they did not complete their work to the NFPA 96 stan-dard and that they own the work that they do on another’s property. To date we have laid information against two clean-ing companies and one company who was installing commercial kitchen access hatches. All three of these companies pleaded guilty to the charges and were fined.

We conveyed to all stakeholders that they would be prosecuted if they did not complete their work to the NFPA 96 stan-dard and that they own the work that they do on another’s property.

SPRING 2012 | PAGE 25 THE IKECA JOURNAL

IKECA Heads to San Francisco!The 2012 Annual Membership Meeting is fast approaching! Don’t miss the meeting dedicated to owners and operators in the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry. This year’s keynote speaker, Tom Grandy, will lead multiple sessions on various management topics such as key performance business indicators and cash flow and collections. In his keynote address, Tom will share impor-tant factors to be successful in this challenging economy.

Registration will be open shortly. Be sure to register early to obtain the early bird rate. Exhibit and sponsor options will also be published shortly, providing valuable opportunities for vendors to meet key decision makers at the leading kitchen exhaust cleaning companies.

Effective January 1, 2012, the Certifica-tion Committee of IKECA instituted some changes to fees and requirements for the various certifications IKECA offers. Of these changes, these are the most notable:

• The cost for the CECT exam for mem-bers has been reduced by $45; this was done to encourage companies to certify more and more technicians in the field.

• Candidates wanting to obtain their CESI certification will now have to ob-

tain their CECS first in order to qualify.* In addition, the CESI renewal cycle has been reduced from four years to two.

• Those who have the Boston certifica-tion, either the BCCS or BCSI, now only have to maintain 3.0 CEUs instead of 6.0 to renew.

To learn more about the fees and renewal cycles, please visit the certifica-tion section of the IKECA website or call IKECA Headquarters at (215) 320-3876.

Certification sets you and your associ-ates apart from the competition. It’s also another way to ensure that your employ-ees are cleaning to a higher standard, ensuring your work is in compliance with regulations. IKECA certification requires continuing education in order to main-tain certification, insuring certificants to stay up-to-date with the latest stan-dards, techniques and safety measures.

*Current CESIs have been grandfathered into the CECS requirement.

Future Meeting Dates

The Ontario Office of the Fire Marshall has now added a two-day course to their cur-riculum to insure that AHJ have the proper knowledge to inspect commercial kitchen exhaust systems properly.

In conclusion, with our new approach to inspecting commercial kitchens and with most stakeholders working in compliance with NFPA 96, I’m very proud to report that Windsor, Ontario has not had any signifi-

cant fire losses in our commercial kitchen establishments in the last four years.

Since joining the Windsor Fire & Rescue Services in April 1996, Dave O’Neil has spent ten years as a front line fire fighter and the last five years as a Fire Prevention Officer. Fire Prevention Officer O’Neil al-ways wanted to be a fire fighter and began

his fire fighting career in Yellowknife, NWT as a volunteer fire fighter while teaching full time at a junior high school.

He is a qualified Hazardous Materials Tech-nician, Provincially Certified Fire Preven-tion Officer, and Certified Fire & Explosives Investigator and conducts inspections of buildings under construction.

Certification Update

2012Annual Membership Meeting:

April 11-15 at the Hilton San Francisco Financial District in San Francisco, CA

Fall Technical Seminar & Expo:October 10-13 at the Crowne Plaza at

Historic Union Station in Indianapolis, IN

2013Annual Membership Meeting

April 17-20 at the Hilton Naples in Naples, FL

Fall Technical Seminar & ExpoOctober 9-12 at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix in Phoenix, AZ

AHJ Corner (continued)


Welcome New IKECA Members

Active North America

A and R Pressure Tacoma, WA

AIRPRO Indoor Air SolutionsHonolulu, HI

Building Maintenance and Management ServicesWampsville, NY

Cleaning Crew GroupSan Juan, PR

Formal Maintenance Services, Inc. dba Fat Free SystemsBridgeport, NY

Northwest Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning, Inc.Federal Way, WA

Taylor Brothers IncorporatedBoise, ID

Active North America (Canada)

Aqua-Jet.caLethbridge, Alberta

Power King Exhaust CleaningSutton, Ontario

International

ENVIRO CARE SERVICESChennai, Tamil Nadu, India

Mawell Chemical CorporationPasig City, NCR, Philippines

Tecai Innova, S.L. (TEINNOVA)Logrono, La Rioja, Spain

Associate

CBIZ Insurance Services, Inc.Columbia, MD

Halton Co.Scottsville, KY

North American Service and SupplyBranson, MO

AHJs

James Francis ValentineLindenwold, NJ

Ft. Myers Beach Fire Control DistrictFt. Myers Beach, FL

Franchisee

Industrial Steam Cleaning of PA, Inc.Reading, PA

Change of Address: Have You Made the Change?

IKECA changed its headquarters in late summer 2010. Please make a note of it in your records and avoid delays and confu-sion. Also, members are encouraged to notify their insurance broker of the change of address if you have indicated IKECA as a certificate holder. If you have not set up this convenient service with your broker, it saves you time by automatically informing IKECA when your coverage is updated.

New contact information:

IKECA100 North 20th Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19103(215) 320-3876

[email protected]

Has Your Information Changed?Member contacts can easily change the information on their membership record by logging in to Members Only on www.ikeca.org, or contact association headquarters.


IKECA Board of Directors 2011-2012

PRESIDENTRobert D. Schuler, CECS, CESI (2013)Bentley Resources, Inc. dba Roof TopSarasota, [email protected]

TREASURERNeal A. Iorii, Jr., CECS, CESI (2012)Olympia Maintenance, Inc.Melrose Park, [email protected]

Jesse Getz, CECS (2014)Getz Fire Equipment Co.Peoria, [email protected]

Kathy Slomer, CECS (2013)Kool KleenMurrysville, [email protected]

VICE PRESIDENTJack Grace, CECS, CESI (2014)Western Commercial Services2311 S. Industrial RoadLas Vegas, [email protected]

IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENTJames Roberts, Jr., CECS, CESI (2012)Derby Pressure WashLouisville, [email protected]

David Nowack, CECS (2012)Fat Free, Inc.N. Fort Myers, [email protected]

SECRETARYKevin Pearson, CECS (2013)Grime Stoppers, IncBlack Eagle, [email protected]

Bill Doherty, CECS, CESIPressure Kleen Services Company, Inc.Toronto, [email protected]

Randall Rauth, CECS (2014)Hood Cleaning, Inc.Waukesha, [email protected]

Kim Yanick (2012)R & T Hood & Duct Services, Inc.Seattle, WA [email protected]

Contribute to the conversation in the com-mercial kitchen exhaust cleaning industry – write an article for the next issue of the IKECA Journal. Articles should be on current subjects of interest to those in cleaning and inspection, including contractors, fire author-ities, insurance providers, facility managers and owner/operators.

* Your perspective on today’s industry topics

* Share your story with an innovation or new device or procedure

* Your personal experience that offers les-sons learned

* Best practices on maintenance or repair

* Frequently asked questions that you want to answer

* Personnel or staffing tips that you’ve learned

Details• View IKECA’s full Article Submission Guide-

lines for all details.

• Email complete articles to [email protected]

• Articles should be between 750 and 2,000 words (between 1 ½ to 4 typed pages)

• Charts, tables and photos are welcome, subject to editorial approval

• Include a short biography of the author (50 words)

• Articles must be educational and informa-tive in nature, and must not be advertise-ments for specific good or services. All are subject to review, approval and editing before publication.

Share your Ideas

Not sure about writing an article? Our professional staff will help you “polish” your article. Don’t let the thought that “I’m not a writer” stop you from sharing your ideas or perspective.

Need more incentive?Earn CEUs!

Need continuing education credits to main-tain your certification? Earn 0.3 CEU for submitting an article for publication in the IKECA Journal. Questions? Call IKECA at 215-320-3876 or email [email protected].

Submit an Article for the IKECA Journal

100 North 20th StreetSuite 400Philadelphia, PA 19103215-320-3876www.ikeca.org

Documents

THRIVING IN TOUGH TIMES - IKECA · Interested parties must submit a CV or resume to [email protected]. Their candidacies are then presented to the CB for consideration and balloting