Equipment fails at the worst time — usually inspection week or a full home. A simple preventive schedule stops most breakdowns before they start.
The principle
Ten minutes of checking beats a day of no service. Preventive maintenance is cheaper than emergency call-outs and keeps CQC happy because meals keep flowing.
Preventive maintenance isn’t about being tidy — it’s about not getting caught out. A fridge that fails on a Friday night is a safeguarding incident. A fridge with a logged temperature trend that flagged a slow drift got fixed on Tuesday.
Weekly tasks
- Clean filters on fridges and ovens
- Check fridge/freezer temperatures are logged
- Inspect seals on doors and lids
- Test the dishwasher rinse temperature
Weekly tasks should be on a signed rota, not in someone’s head. When it’s a named task with a tick-box, it happens. When it’s ‘whenever someone remembers’, it doesn’t.
Monthly tasks
- Descale the dishwasher and kettle
- Deep-clean the oven internals
- Check blade sharpness on slicers and processors
- Test safety cut-offs
Monthly is where you catch the slow stuff — scale build-up, dulling blades, sticky cut-offs. None of these fail loudly; they drift until something breaks. The monthly pass resets the drift.
Keep a log
A simple signed sheet dated each week is evidence for inspection and spots patterns — if the same item fails monthly, replace it.
The log does double duty: it proves to CQC that you maintain kit, and it tells you which items are money pits. An item on the log every month is a replacement candidate, not a repair.
Need Cover While You Upgrade?
New kit is one thing — keeping meals running while you switch it out is another. KitchenFlow provides DBS-checked, care-experienced chefs and kitchen assistants for sickness, holidays and emergency gaps across South Wales. Book cover or talk to us.
