Understanding TR19 standard

TR19 is the ductwork cleaning guidelines provided by Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) for internal ventilation systems cleaning. Some important stipulations in the regulations are that the cleaning service provider carries Professional Indemnity Insurance and can provide photographic proof of cleaning standard. 

What is TR19?

BESA first published TR/17 in 1998 in order to give guidance to good practice and to establish standards for testing, cleaning and verification of the internal cleanliness of ventilation systems.

The guide was re-published in 2005 to include further improvements to best practice and to incorporate the former publication DW/TM2 – Internal Cleanliness of New Ductwork Installations.

To differentiate this expanded edition from its predecessor publication, it was renumbered TR/19. The opportunity was been taken in the second Edition of TR/19 to incorporate reference to the new British and European Standard BS EN 15780 Cleanliness of Ventilation Systems introduced in 2011. 

Why TR19 guidelines?

As air is invisible there is a tendency to take the quality of the air we breathe for granted. Moreover, given that the average person has an air internal intake of about 3.4 litres of air every minute, the dangers of an inadequate cleanliness of or polluted air supply are obvious.

This, coupled with the risk of fire ventilation from build up of grease deposits in kitchen extract systems and the systems expectations of building occupiers and legislators, has resulted in an ever more stringent level of ventilation system cleanliness being required.

Updates to TR19 and the new TR19 Grease specification

Recent changes were made to highlight the current best practice for ensuring that kitchen extract systems are maintained to minimise the risk of fire associated with grease accumulation. 

Kitchen extract systems are not covered by BS EN 15780. In this Third Edition, Section 7 has been withdrawn and has been superseded by TR19 Grease, a new, stand-alone specification for Fire Risk Management of Grease Accumulation within Kitchen Extraction Systems. 

The guide can be used for new build, upgrade and maintenance of ventilation systems and will directly benefit users of the indoor environment as well as specifiers and consultants. Since its inception in 1998, this guide and its predecessors have been widely accepted within the building services sector and by the UK insurance industry as the standard to which ventilation systems should be cleaned. 

Latest TR19 updates

Changes to the TR19 guidelines published in BESA’s most recent document contains updated information regarding the industry standards for managing grease levels within commercial kitchen ventilation systems. A key update is that a business must use an accredited service provider in order to be TR19 compliant. 

Halcyon Group offers a TR19 compliant kitchen ventilation deep cleaning and inspection service; we certify your grease-extraction cleaning to TR19 standards. 

To mitigate risk and ensure compliance, call the professionals for effective and safe kitchen ventilation cleaning.

For more insights into TR19 and the importance of compliance, download the TR19 standards pdf file: TR19 free download