Safety records a restaurant or café has to keep

A restaurant or café is a kitchen, a public room and a workplace in one building, and three sets of rules meet there: fire safety, food safety and health and safety at work, with the premises licence on top. Each asks for records. This guide lists the ones an owner or manager is usually expected to produce, who normally does each, and how often, so that when the fire officer, the environmental health officer, the insurer or the landlord asks, you know where it is.

None of these records makes a kitchen safe on its own. They are the proof that the checks happened, done by a named person, on a date. A good set of records is what turns a difficult inspection into a short one.

Three sets of rules, one building

Fire safety. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes the employer the responsible person for the parts of the building they control. It asks for a written fire risk assessment, a plan, trained staff, and working detection, lighting, escape routes and extinguishers, kept that way and recorded. Commercial kitchens are a recognised high-risk area within it: open flame, hot oil, grease in the extraction and a brigade working fast in a small space.

Food safety. Food law asks for a documented food safety management system based on hazard analysis (most small businesses use the Food Standards Agency's Safer Food, Better Business pack), daily records of the checks it sets, and allergen information for every dish. The local authority's environmental health officer inspects against it and awards the food hygiene rating.

Health and safety at work. With staff you need employer's liability insurance, a written health and safety policy once you have five or more employees, risk assessments for the kitchen's hazards (slips, burns, knives, manual handling, cleaning chemicals), maintained equipment, an accident book and, for serious injuries, RIDDOR reporting.

The licence. If you sell alcohol or provide late-night refreshment, the premises licence carries conditions, and some of them are about records: incident logs, refusals, CCTV retention, capacity, door staff. Read your own; they vary.

Fire safety records

The fire risk assessment is the top document. For a small, simple unit the owner can do it using the Home Office guide for offices and shops or for small places of assembly, but a kitchen with gas, deep-fat fryers and ductwork is where many owners pay for an assessor. Whoever does it, it has to be specific to your premises, in writing, and reviewed at least yearly and after any change.

Behind it sits the logbook: the weekly alarm test, the monthly emergency lighting and extinguisher checks, the fire door and escape route walk before service, the yearly drill, and the service certificates from the alarm, lighting and extinguisher contractors. The test frequencies guide explains each check and the standard it comes from.

Two records are particular to kitchens. The extraction cleaning report with photographs, at the interval TR19 Grease gives for your hours of cooking, is the one insurers look for after a fire and sometimes require as a condition of cover. And if a suppression system is fitted over the cooking line, its six-monthly service record.

Gas, electrics and equipment

Gas appliances, pipework and flues have to be maintained in a safe condition by a Gas Safe registered engineer. The law does not set an interval for commercial premises; an annual service and safety check with the commercial catering certificate kept (often called a CP42) is how the trade shows it, and most landlords and insurers make it a written requirement. Interlocks between the gas supply and the extraction, where fitted, are checked at the same time.

The fixed wiring needs a periodic inspection and report (an EICR) by a qualified electrician; five years is the usual interval for commercial premises, but the report itself sets the next date and a kitchen's heat and moisture sometimes shorten it. Portable appliances, from the blender to the under-counter fridge, are tested on a risk basis, and in a working kitchen that is usually yearly. Keep the certificates and the register of what was tested.

Food safety records

The environmental health officer reads the diary before they look at the kitchen. The daily opening and closing checks, fridge and freezer temperatures, cooking and cooling temperatures, cleaning schedules, the supplier list and delivery checks, and the four-weekly review are the body of it. The allergen matrix, covering the fourteen allergens for every dish and kept current with the menu, is the record most often found out of date. If you sell food packed on site for sale (sandwiches in the chiller, say), the labelling rules that came in with Natasha's Law apply and your ingredient records are what the labels are built from.

Pest control visits and reports, staff food hygiene training certificates, and the fitness-to-work records for anyone returning after illness complete the set.

Every record, at a glance

Intervals are the usual practice or the standard that applies; your fire risk assessment, your contractors' reports and your licence conditions may set shorter ones, and they take precedence.

Keeping them

Three things make the difference between a record that counts and a pile of paper. Each entry has a date and a name. Nothing is backfilled; a missed week is written as missed. And the certificates from contractors are filed the day they are handed over, not found in the van six months later. Keep the fire logbook where the manager on duty can reach it, and the food safety diary in the kitchen, but keep a copy of everything together where an inspector can see the whole picture in one sitting.

How long to keep them: fire records until the next assessment at least, and most keep three years; food safety records for a year to eighteen months, longer if a shelf-life claim depends on them; accident records three years; gas and electrical certificates until the next one replaces them, and keep the old ones for the history.

Common questions

Does a small café need a fire risk assessment?

Yes. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 applies to every non-domestic premises in England and Wales, and since October 2023 the assessment has to be recorded in writing whatever the size of the business. A café with a kitchen, a till and a dozen tables is exactly the kind of premises the Order was written for.

How often does a commercial kitchen need a gas safety check?

The law says gas appliances and flues must be maintained in a safe condition; it does not set a date. Annual servicing and a safety check by a Gas Safe registered engineer, with the commercial catering certificate kept, is the accepted way to show it, and most insurers and landlords require it in writing.

How often should kitchen extraction be cleaned?

The industry standard, TR19 Grease, ties it to hours of cooking: heavy use (12 or more hours a day) every three months, moderate use (6 to 12 hours) every six months, light use (2 to 6 hours) once a year. Keep the cleaning report and the photographs; grease in ductwork is the most common cause of serious restaurant fires and the first thing a loss adjuster asks about.

Is the food hygiene rating a record we have to keep?

The rating is awarded by your local authority after inspection and is based on what they find, including your food safety management records. You have to display the sticker in Wales; in England it is voluntary but expected. The records behind it, your temperature checks, cleaning schedules, supplier list and allergen matrix, are what the inspector reads.

Does Martyn's Law apply to a restaurant?

Selling food and drink for consumption on the premises is a listed use, so the only question is the number: can 200 or more people reasonably be expected on the whole premises at once, including staff and any outside seating? Most independent restaurants are under it. Those with a function room, a terrace or a late licence often are not. The pubs, restaurants and hotels guide works through it.

Who is the responsible person in a restaurant?

Under the Fire Safety Order it is the employer, and for the parts of the building you do not control, the landlord or managing agent as well. In a franchise or a leased unit there may be two or three, and the Order expects them to cooperate. Name one person who keeps the record and one deputy, and write their names on the fire risk assessment.

A plain-English summary of the records a restaurant or café is usually expected to keep in England and Wales, written for owners and managers. It is not legal advice and does not replace the guidance for your premises, the conditions on your licence, or the judgement of a competent person. The Venue Record is independent and is not connected to, endorsed by or approved by any fire and rescue authority, local authority or government body.