Restaurant Liabilities: Sewer and Drains

If you run a restaurant, you’re guaranteed to have two things: drains in your kitchen and a sewer line. Normally these two systems work in harmony with your kitchen sinks flowing into drains which in turn are fed into the sewers. But what if the unthinkable occurred and those drains and sewer pipes suddenly stopped draining water, and instead stopping or even backing up? Suddenly you’ve got standing water in your kitchen—or even worse, standing sewage—and suddenly you’ve got to close your doors. What causes these backups and overflows, and what can you do when it happens?

Sewer and Drains

There are three primary forms of backups that can occur in your combined drain and sewer system.

Drain End Blockages

This blockage occurs not in the sewer itself, but the kitchen drains themselves, often due to kitchen waste material building up in the drains or the pipes immediately after. This could be organic plant or animal matter, plastics or paper, or the accumulation of hardened grease or oil. This last cause, known as FOGS, or Fats, Oils, Grease, and Solids, can enter the drain as a warm liquid, and harden within the pipe—including within the sewer line—and causing flow issues and blockages.

Combined Pipelines Backup

Certain sewer systems are known as combined pipelines, where storm drain water and sewage share the same pipe. When these sewers have high amounts of storm drain water from high-volume rain storms, this sewage-storm water can instead flood basements and low drains such as those in your restaurant’s kitchen.

Sanitary Main Blockage

The largest scale backup is one of the city’s sanitary main, which is a non-combined pipeline. Accumulation of FOGS, breaks, and garbage such as sanitary wipes, can block the pipe and lead to raw sewage backing up into floor drains.

Protecting Your Restaurant

There are two major focuses when protecting your restaurant against these types of overflows and backups: preventative maintenance and insurance.

Preventative Maintenance

Your kitchen sinks and dishwasher should have a grease interceptor installed to catch both the solid scrapings as well as the liquid grease that can stop-up pipes. These need to be serviced regularly, along with getting pipes and drains cleaned internally by professionals.

Insurance: Backup of Sewer and Drain

While you may have a general insurance policy protecting your premise, chances are it does not include water damage from the overflow of your sewer and drains. Backup of Sewer and Drain Insurance will cover physical loss caused by the backup of sewers and drains on your property.

Insurance: Business Interruption

Having raw sewage in your kitchen means you’re not going to be doing business for a while you get your property restored and cleaned by health inspectors. Business Interruption Insurance will cover the loss of income while your business is restored.

We hope this article on your restaurant’s drains and sewers has helped answer your questions. If you have any further ones on the types of coverage or any other insurances for your business, please contact the H&K Insurance Agency. We’ll help you get your restaurant fully insured and help you reduce the risk to your business.