Hospitals & Healthcare
Every Kitchen in the Hospital, Inspected on One Visit
Main kitchen cook lines, cafeteria grill and fry stations — an independent NFPA 96 inspection covers every hooded kitchen on the same visit, with one report per kitchen and one schedule for the facility.
Schedule an InspectionCall (209) 318-2737Prefer to text? (209) 553-4297
- IKECA Member Company
- Certified Exhaust System Inspector (CESI) #200771
- Certified Exhaust Cleaning Specialist (CECS) #200452
- Full System: Hood, Duct & Fan
- Report on Every Inspection
Kitchen Exhaust Inspection
$500 first system · $250 each additional · One visit covers the facility
- Accessibility for Cleaning
- Listed Systems and Controls
- Exhaust Fans
- Reporting and Records
Every hooded kitchen in the facility, on one visit.
A Hospital, Four Systems
What one inspection visit costs.
| Main kitchen — cook line | $500 |
| Main kitchen — second line | $250 |
| Cafeteria grill station | $250 |
| Cafeteria fry station | $250 |
| Four systems, one visit | $1,250 |
Each kitchen gets its own report, its own findings and its own NFPA 96 interval.
IKECA Member #76716495 · CESI #200771 · CECS #200452 · Scheduling from October 5, 2026
One Facility, Several Different Intervals
The nutrition-services kitchen produces patient meals around the clock, every day of the year. The cafeteria stations run only at meal periods. NFPA 96 Table 12.4 sets the interval by what each kitchen actually cooks, not by the building — so one facility can legitimately hold several different schedules at once.
Nutrition Services
Patient meals around the clock, with no closed day. The heaviest grease load in the building and usually the shortest interval.
Cafeteria Grill Station
Public and staff meal periods on its own hood, on its own schedule.
Cafeteria Fry Station
Frying at meal periods, then idle. Usually a longer interval than the main kitchen.
Ducts Through Clinical Floors
Long runs from the kitchen to a rooftop fan, often through occupied floors. The inspection records where each run goes and where it can be reached.
The Part Nobody Looks At
The continuous kitchen is the exposure. A nutrition-services line that never fully shuts down accumulates grease without the natural pause a nightly-close restaurant gets, and its long ducts often run through occupied clinical floors to reach a rooftop fan — the last place a facility wants a fire, and the hardest place to inspect. Because the kitchen cannot simply close, there is real pressure to defer or shorten a cleaning, which is exactly how a high-volume system slides past its interval. The rooftop fans serving these kitchens are frequently the most neglected component on the whole campus. And the stakes run past a fire-marshal notice: a CMS Life Safety Code survey can cite the kitchen under K-tag K324, Cooking Facilities — a finding that puts the hospital’s CMS certification at risk until it is corrected.
For CMS-Surveyed Facilities (Hospitals, Skilled Nursing)
per day, civil penalty
per instance
A cooking-facility grease finding can be cited under CMS K-tag K 324 in a Life Safety Code survey — a Life Safety deficiency that puts CMS certification at risk. CMS-certified skilled nursing facilities face civil monetary penalties under 42 CFR 488.438: $136 to $27,378 per day, or up to $27,378 per instance. Hospitals face termination of their Medicare and Medicaid provider agreement for an uncorrected Life Safety deficiency. Most assisted living is state-licensed rather than CMS-certified and is not subject to this penalty schedule.
How Often NFPA 96 Requires Inspection
NFPA 96 sets frequency in Table 12.4 by cooking volume and equipment type. A high-volume, continuous nutrition-services kitchen sits near the top of that table; a low-volume physicians' dining room or a coffee-forward café runs far less often. The correct answer is per kitchen, not per building — which is why the inspection covers every kitchen in the facility and sets an interval for each, and plans the cleaning of the continuous kitchen around production so it is never deferred.
What the Inspection Covers
Each hood, duct run and exhaust fan is inspected against NFPA 96 in five parts, and every inspection includes the Fire-5 Tag Verification. Cooking appliances are not inspected.
- Accessibility for Cleaning
- Listed Systems and Controls
- Exhaust Fans
- Reporting and Records
Included in Every Inspection
The Fire-5 Tag Verification
We verify the posted tag and service record for all five fire safety systems over every cooking line in the facility, and report which are current.
- Hood Cleaning
- Fire Suppression
- Fire Sprinkler
- Fire Extinguishers
- Fire Alarm
One Standard, Every Facility
Health systems rarely have every facility in one city. Inspection is available statewide, scheduled by region, and every report comes back in the same format, filed by facility.
One Visit Per Facility
Every hood in the building on the same visit, scheduled around patient meal production.
Facilities Grouped by Region
One price wherever we come to you, and we group nearby facilities onto the same visit.
One File, Every Reviewer
One format, filed by facility, ready for a fire marshal, EH&S, a carrier or an accreditation survey.
The Priority Service Plan
Kitchens on the plan get the Inspection Day Guarantee: on schedule and cited for grease on a part we were responsible to clean, we correct it at no charge and pay the re-inspection fee.
NFPA 96 Trusted Advisor, All Year
The retainer stands on its own — no inspection required. A surveyor asks a question, a carrier asks for records, a fire marshal leaves a notice: those get answered by email and phone all year, with no site visit.
$750 per year — on its own, no inspection needed
$500 per year if you renew it after an inspection.
Hospital Inspection Questions
What does it cost to inspect a hospital with several kitchens?
$500 for the first system at the property and $250 for each additional system there. Four systems is $1,250, covered on one visit.
Do all our kitchens end up on the same cleaning schedule?
No, and they should not. NFPA 96 Table 12.4 sets the interval by what each kitchen cooks. The inspection gives each one its own interval, which usually means nutrition services comes up most often and the cafeteria fry station least.
Will the inspection disrupt patient meal service?
No. The inspection is a walk of the systems with an inspection camera, scheduled around production so patient meals are never interrupted.
Who are we documenting for?
Your local fire marshal, your EH&S and facilities teams, your insurance carrier, and your accreditation survey. One report per kitchen serves all of them.
Do I have to buy a cleaning?
No. The inspection is sold on its own. If the report shows cleaning is required, the report is yours to act on with any hood cleaning company.
Can you cover facilities in other cities?
Yes. Inspection is available statewide, scheduled by region, at one price wherever we come to you. We group nearby facilities onto the same visit.
Can we buy the Trusted Advisor retainer without an inspection?
Yes. The retainer is $750 a year on its own — no inspection required. It drops to $500 a year only if you renew it after an inspection.
Know Where Every Kitchen in the Hospital Stands
$500 first system · $250 each additional · One visit covers the facility