In the food service industry, the product (the food) is very straightforward, but one can easily forget about the many components that help to ensure its arrival in a timely manner. While the people involved with this process (the kitchen and wait staff) are the individuals actually doing the cooking and serving, the equipment used is just as essential. This equipment must be designed, installed, and used with care.
ANSI Z83.11-2016/CSA 1.8-2016 – Gas food service equipment is the latest revision of the standard for gas food service equipment, specifically covering ranges and unit broilers, baking and roasting ovens, counter appliances, deep fat fryers, kettles, steam cookers, steam generators, and tableside cooking appliances. According to the standard, these are:
a) for use with natural gas;
b) for use with manufactured gas;
c) for use with mixed gas;
d) for use with propane gas;
e) for use with liquefied petroleum gases;
f) for a tableside cooking appliance only, for use with butane gas;
g) for use with LP gas-air mixtures; and
h) for use with either natural, manufactured, or mixed gas and convertible for use with either propane gas or liquefied petroleum gases.
The document also further differentiates the gas food service equipment by separating them between those used indoors and outdoors. ANSI Z83.11-2016/CSA 1.8-2016 specifies that those “constructed entirely of new, unused parts and materials for use in food service centers of commercial, industrial, institutional, and public assembly buildings” be called appliances, while those “constructed entirely of new, unused parts and materials for outdoor use and/or for installation in either carts or trailers” be called outdoor appliances.
Standardizing gas food service equipment is incredibly important not only because of the need for manufacturers to label components properly for the simplification of their use, but also because fire poses a significant hazard any time something is cooked. In fact, cooking is the number one cause of home fires. As for the food service industry, the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) reported that there were 5,900 restaurant building fires in the United States between 2007 and 2009, which resulted in 75 injuries and $172 million in property loss.
However, the majority of these are considered to be confined fires, the less severe scenario of the dangerous event. When a confined fire occurs, as the name implies, it can be mitigated easily by fire safety systems in place. In addition, the safeguards placed into the cooking appliances during manufacturing reduce the likelihood for a fire to occur in the first place. For example, in the NFIRS study, grease was shown to be one of the primary causes of fires among different cooking applications. One guideline from ANSI Z83.11-2016/CSA 1.8-2016 that helps to prevent grease-related incidents is “griddles shall be designed so that grease is drained to an accessible part of the appliance where it may be readily removed.”
However, as previously noted, even if the best prevention efforts are in place, kitchen fires can still occur. ANSI Z83.11-2016/CSA 1.8-2016 further assures the safety of those working with the appliances by touching upon guidelines for oven fume hoods and even radiation shields if needed. These recommendations, in the event that fires cannot be avoided, help keep the frequency of confined fires greater than nonconfined fires.
It is also worth noting that this standard contains two document numbers due to its joint development by the Canadian Standards Association and the CSA Group in America and approval by ANSI and the Standards Council of Canada. This process was performed as such because of efforts made in the early 90s to remove potential trade barriers throughout North America following the onset of the Free Trade agreement between the United States and Canada in 1988. Because of this, ANSI Z83.11-2016/CSA 1.8-2016 benefits from the standardization practices of both nations.
ANSI Z83.11-2016/CSA 1.8-2016 – Gas food service equipment is now available on the ANSI Webstore.
