If you hang around the hood cleaning forums and Facebook groups long enough, you will see the same fight break out over and over.
A new guy asks: “Do I need to be certified to start cleaning kitchen exhaust systems?”
Half the comments say: “Yes! You HAVE to be certified. It’s the law. NFPA 96 says so.”
The other half say: “No you don’t. That’s just the certified guys trying to keep you out of the business.”
So who is right? Like a lot of things in this trade, the real answer is somewhere in the middle. Let’s break it down in plain English.
First, Who Makes the Rules?
There is no federal license for hood cleaning. There is no national law that says you must carry a certification card to clean a kitchen exhaust system. The rules come from a standard called NFPA 96. That’s the fire safety standard for commercial cooking operations. It is written by the National Fire Protection Association.
Here’s the first thing most people get wrong: NFPA does not certify anybody. They don’t sell certifications. They don’t sell stickers. They don’t have a list of “NFPA approved” hood cleaners. They just write the standard. That’s it.
The standard only becomes a rule you have to follow when your local fire code adopts it. And the person who enforces it is called the AHJ — the Authority Having Jurisdiction. In most towns, that’s the fire marshal or the local fire department. That’s an important name to remember, because the AHJ is the real boss in this whole story.
What NFPA 96 Actually Says
Here is the part everyone argues about. In NFPA 96 (2014 edition), Section 11.6.1 says:
“If, upon inspection, the exhaust system is found to be contaminated with deposits from grease-laden vapors, the contaminated portions of the exhaust system shall be cleaned by a properly trained, qualified, and certified person(s) acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.”
Section 11.4 says almost the same thing about inspections.
(In the newer 2021 and 2024 editions, this moved to Chapter 12 — Section 12.4 for inspections and Section 12.6.1 for cleaning — but the wording is the same idea.)
Now read that sentence again, slowly. It does NOT say “certified by IKECA.” It does NOT say “certified by this school or that school.” It says the person must be:
- Properly trained
- Qualified
- Certified
- Acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction
That last part is the key that most people skip right over.
The Part Nobody Tells You About
Here’s where it gets interesting. NFPA 96 actually defines what those words mean, right in Chapter 3 of the standard.
Section 3.3.10 defines “Certified” like this:
“A formally stated recognition and approval of an acceptable level of competency, acceptable to the AHJ.”
And Section 3.3.50 defines “Trained” as a person who learned the skill:
“through instruction and practice/field experience acceptable to the AHJ.”
See the pattern? Acceptable to the AHJ. Acceptable to the AHJ.
The standard itself builds in a back door, and the AHJ is the one holding the key. If your local fire marshal looks at you, your training, and your work, and says “this person is acceptable to me” — then as far as NFPA 96 is concerned, you can perform the service. That is written right into the standard.
So when somebody tells you “NFPA 96 says you MUST be certified by some association,” they are only telling you half the story. The other half is that the fire marshal in your town gets the final say on what “certified” and “trained” actually mean.
So Why Do So Many Guys Say Certification Is Required?
Because in some places, it IS. And this is where the forum arguments go sideways — both sides are talking about different places.
Some cities and states have passed their own laws on top of NFPA 96. The famous example is Boston. Back in 2008, the Boston City Council passed an ordinance that says every contractor who cleans or inspects commercial kitchen exhaust systems in the city must be certified through a program run with IKECA (the International Kitchen Exhaust Cleaning Association). That Boston card is only good in Boston. It means nothing anywhere else. A few other jurisdictions have their own rules too.
So the guy in Boston saying “you have to be certified” is telling the truth — for Boston. The guy three states over saying “nobody ever asked me for a card” is also telling the truth — for his town. They’re both right. They’re just talking about different AHJs.
The Controversy, Honest Version
After reading the discussion groups for years, here’s my take on why this fight never dies:
1. Certification gets used as a sales weapon. Some certified companies tell restaurant owners “it’s illegal for anyone uncertified to touch your system.” In most of the country, that’s just not true. It’s a way to scare customers and lock out competition. New guys hear it and think they can’t start.
2. Certification gets used as gatekeeping. Some guys who paid for their cards don’t like the idea of a new guy with a pressure washer and a trailer taking jobs. So they push the “you must be certified” line hard, even where the AHJ doesn’t require it.
3. But the anti-certification crowd goes too far the other way. You’ll also hear “certification is a total scam, you don’t need to know anything.” That’s just as wrong. NFPA 96 absolutely requires you to be trained and qualified. Grease fires kill people. Restaurants burn down because of hack jobs where the guy only cleaned what you could see from the kitchen floor and never touched the duct or the rooftop fan. If you hurt someone doing work you don’t understand, “nobody told me I needed training” is not going to save you in court.
The truth: the card is optional in most places. The knowledge is not.
What Should You Actually Do?
If you’re trying to get into the business:
- Call the fire marshal’s office in every town you want to work in. Ask them straight up: “What do you require from kitchen exhaust cleaners?” Some want a certification. Some want to see your paperwork and reports. Some just want the work done right and documented. A ten-minute phone call beats a thousand forum arguments.
- Get real training, card or no card. Learn NFPA 96. Learn how the whole system works — hood, filters, plenum, duct, fan, rooftop. Learn what the fire marshal looks for. Training programs from IKECA, Phil Ackland, PWNA, and others will teach you the trade. Some of them also give you a certification at the end.
- Document every job. NFPA 96 requires a certificate on site showing your company name, the name of the person who did the work, and the date. It also requires a written report to the owner listing anything you couldn’t access or clean. Do this on every single job, no matter what. Good paperwork is what separates a pro from a hack in the fire marshal’s eyes.
If you’re already in the business and someone is telling you that you need certification:
- Ask: required by WHO? If it’s a customer or a competitor saying it, ask them to show you the local ordinance. If it’s the fire marshal saying it — that’s different. That’s your AHJ, and what they say goes.
- Check your local fire code. Find out which edition of NFPA 96 your area has adopted and whether your city or state added any local rules about certification.
- Consider getting certified anyway. Even where it’s not required, a certification helps you win bids, helps with insurance, and gives you an answer when a restaurant owner asks why they should hire you over the next guy. It’s a business tool, not just a card.
The Bottom Line
- There is no national law requiring certification to clean kitchen exhaust systems.
- NFPA 96 requires the work to be done by a trained, qualified, certified person — but it defines those words as acceptable to the AHJ, and the AHJ (usually your local fire department or fire marshal) makes the final call.
- Some cities and states (Boston is the big example) have passed their own laws that DO require certification. Know the rules where you work.
- NFPA itself certifies no one and sells no stickers.
- Whether or not the card is required where you live, being trained and doing the job right is not optional. People’s kitchens, businesses, and lives depend on it.
The fire marshal is the referee. Stop arguing on the internet, pick up the phone, and ask the referee what the rules are in your town.
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