Most people searching for an “NFPA 96 certificate” are looking for one document. NFPA 96 actually requires several records — and knowing which is which is the difference between a kitchen that can prove its fire-safety compliance and one that just hopes the folder is complete.
Here’s what the standard actually requires after an exhaust system is inspected and cleaned — and exactly what you get from us on every job.
NFPA 96 doesn’t just say the work has to be done — it says who can do it. Inspection for grease buildup, and the cleaning that follows, must be performed by a properly trained, qualified, and certified person acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction (§12.4, §12.6.1).
That’s not a marketing line — it’s in the standard, and it’s the whole reason to choose us. Cleaning Pros Plus is the Central Valley’s only IKECA member company, our crew is IKECA-certified, and our founder holds the IKECA CECS certification and serves as a retained NFPA 96 expert witness — the person attorneys call when a commercial kitchen fire ends up in court. When our name is on your certificate, that’s the credential standing behind it.
When an exhaust system is inspected or cleaned, the standard requires a certificate showing the name of the servicing company, the name of the person who performed the work, and the date — maintained on the premises (§12.6.13). This is the record a fire marshal asks for first. It’s the closest thing to “the NFPA 96 certificate,” and it has to live at the kitchen, not in a filing cabinet across town. We leave it with you.
Separately, after cleaning or inspection, the cleaning company and the person who did the work have to give the owner a written report — one that specifically identifies any areas that were inaccessible or not cleaned (§12.6.14). This is the honesty clause: it’s not enough to say the job was done; the record has to state what couldn’t be reached. Where required, those certificates and reports go to the authority having jurisdiction (§12.6.15). We put it in writing — including anything we couldn’t reach and why.
When an access panel is removed during service, a label or tag — preprinted with the servicing company’s name and showing the date of inspection or cleaning — has to be affixed near the affected access panels (§12.6.10). It’s the on-equipment proof that the duct was actually opened and serviced.
A certificate only means something if it reflects the work NFPA 96 actually calls for.
NFPA 96 doesn’t leave “is it dirty enough to clean” to opinion — it sets measured thresholds, checked with a grease depth gauge comb placed on the surface (§12.6.1.1.2). The comb reads from a clean baseline down through three measured levels:
Metal grease-collection containers are inspected or emptied at least weekly (§12.6.16). We clean to bare metal, to the standard’s own target, so the certificate reflects a reading, not a guess.
Cleaned to bare metal, measured against the standard, documented by the Central Valley’s only IKECA member company.
When a fire investigator asks for the record, the kitchens that have it keep their coverage — and their doors open. We build that proof into every job because we take pride in helping our clients protect what they’ve worked their whole lives to build, the same way we protect ours.
