The hospitality sector in the United Kingdom is facing fresh warnings following the release of data from Cloudfm suggesting that only 30 per cent of restaurant estates meet the required standards.
Building testing and certification is a legal requirement with non-conformity resulting in fines and even the imprisonment and disqualification of company directors. Companies also have a duty of care to ensure that their staff and customers are safe.
Jeff Dewing, CEO of Cloudfm, says: “Too often businesses across the hospitality sector are lulled into a false sense of security, as they are assured that checks are done, and compliance rates are above 90 per cent. However, often contractors fail to file paperwork or conduct tests to the correct standards. Companies must take swift action and should maintain absolute transparency across the business.
“Our research has uncovered a huge problem for the hospitality industry, and urgent action needs to be taken to ensure the operational efficiency of buildings and assets and the safety of the people that work and visit them.
“We know which of your equipment is likely to fail, but do you? It’s why what we do is so important – we can help with compliance but also save downtime and reduce maintenance and replacement costs.”
The company is launching a campaign to help the sector adopt more transparent practices and ensure it can raise compliance standards.
Statutory legislation ensures the safe and dependable functioning of machinery and services is included in the required minimum maintenance processes. Employers must keep their workplace and equipment in excellent working order and repair, according to the Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations of 1992.
All facilities management programmes should have compliance with statutory legislation at the heart of the maintenance strategy.
The general SFG20 specification for scheduled maintenance lists approximately 900 maintainable assets, 450 specifications, and about 150 of those have a statutory compliance task.
