Guide
Service label on the hood: what should be on it
When a fire marshal walks the cookline, the first paperwork check is often the sticker on the hood — not the PDF in your email. Secondary explainers of NFPA 96 (2024 framing) treat that adhesive label as a fifteen-second answer to three questions: when was the system last inspected or cleaned, who did the work, and who do we call. Section numbers below are secondary summaries. Buy or cite the edition your AHJ adopted; this is not the official text and not legal advice.
Short answer
Secondary §12.6.13: after the exhaust system is inspected or cleaned, an adhesive label goes on the hood and stays until the next inspection or cleaning. Secondary §12.6.13.1 lists three required fields: service date (often shown by a perforation / punched calendar day), name of the person who did the work (the technician, not only the company), and the service provider’s name, address, and phone. The sticker is not the written report — that is a separate two-week deliverable. Access panels that were opened get their own tags (secondary §12.6.10).
Required fields (secondary §12.6.13.1)
| Field | What secondary sources say | Operator check |
|---|---|---|
| Date of service | Recorded on the label; secondary notes often describe a perforation / hand-punch on a printed calendar grid | Readable from the floor; matches the visit you paid for |
| Person who performed the work | Named technician — not a blank line or company-only stamp | Can you match the name to a credential claim if asked? |
| Provider name, address, phone | Who is accountable if the marshal needs a callback | Phone dials a real desk; address is not a PO-box-only mystery |
Secondary §12.6.13.2: the label remains affixed until the next inspection or cleaning event. Peeling it off, covering it with a new blank sticker, or letting it curl into unreadable plastic breaks the in-place record.
Where it goes — and what it is not
- On the hood — adhesive, securely attached, visible on a walk-by (secondary §12.6.13)
- After inspection or cleaning — a current sticker can mean “inspected under threshold” or “cleaned”; read the written report before you treat it as a full clean
- Not a substitute for the PDF/paper report — reports have their own two-week windows and content lists (see two-week report windows)
- Not the access-panel tag — when a duct panel is opened, secondary §12.6.10 calls for a separate preprinted company tag with the date near that panel
- “Next due” on the sticker — common vendor practice and useful for your calendar; the secondary three-item list above does not treat next-due as one of the required label fields. Put next-due on your schedule the day you file the report either way
Field note — sticker vs report vs binder
- Sticker = who / when / call-back on the equipment
- Written inspection or cleaning report = what was measured, cleaned, skipped, or inaccessible
- Binder = where you keep the reports so a marshal is not waiting on your phone
- Older secondary excerpt mirrors (and some AHJs still on prior editions) may use different section numbers or “certificate on premises” language — verify the edition your city named
Label that holds up
- Date punched / marked for the actual visit day
- Technician name you can read without a flashlight
- Company name + address + phone that matches the invoice
- Still stuck flat; not under a grease film or filter stack
- Panel tags present near opened duct doors when ducts were entered
Red flags
- No label — or last year’s date still showing
- Company logo only; no technician name
- Phone that rings a personal cell with no company ID
- Fresh sticker after a canopy wipe with no duct/fan findings in the report
- Label peeled, covered, or relocated so it is not on the hood
Who it’s for / not for
- For: managers who walk the cookline before a marshal visit; multi-site leads standardizing what “good sticker” means; anyone reconciling a citation that says “missing or expired service label”
- Not for: treating the sticker as proof of a full-system clean; inventing local amendments; arguing section numbers from a blog alone against your AHJ’s adopted text
Sources
- Facilitec Southwest — cleaning report & service label (secondary; §12.6.13 / .13.1 / .13.2 label fields; §12.6.10 panel tags; sticker vs report)
- Facilitec Southwest — NFPA 96 codes reference (secondary; service-label and documentation sections)
- NFPA — Second Revision statements (NFPA 96) (standards-development PDF describing adhesive-label / report section revisions — not a substitute for the published standard)
- Hood Cleaning Schools — NFPA 96 excerpts page (secondary excerpt mirror; older section numbering may differ — verify edition)
- HoodFilters — NFPA 96 excerpts (2024) (secondary; related exhaust-system context used elsewhere on this site)
Next step
Walk the cookline tonight. Photograph the current hood label. Check date, technician name, and provider contact against your last invoice. If any field is blank, unreadable, or missing — email the vendor for a corrected label and confirm the written report is already in the binder before the next AHJ window.