The president of Joey’s Only Restaurant chain has spoken out against the “deception” of one of its Red Deer franchises not maintaining its fire safety equipment.
Puneet Sabharwal, the owner of Joey’s Only Seafood Restaurant at 5431 43rd St. in Red Deer, pleaded guilty to failing to maintain safety equipment including the fire protection system over commercial cooking equipment.
A settlement was reached of a fine of $5,000. Sabharwal was also charged with making a false or misleading statement in writing by dating and initializing the fire suppression system, portable extinguishers, and kitchen exhaust cleaning service tags, with the intent to avoid regular maintenance of safety equipment.
In a Friday release from Joey’s home office in Calgary, said their regular inspection showed fire safety compliance about four weeks before this “deception was uncovered,” said Andy Taylor, Joey’s Only Franchising Lt. president.
“We are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding this violation of the safety codes and consulting with the relevant experts and authorities on how we can help prevent this in the future. We are considering our options at this time.”
According to Wes Van Bavel, Red Deer Emergency Services fire marshal, the fire suppression system over the cooking area was last serviced in October 2016. He also said the system needs to be serviced and maintain on a semi-annual basis.
“It is with great disappointment that we learned about the actions of our franchise partner in south Red Deer,” said Taylor.
“Joey’s Seafood Restaurants has been part of the Red Deer community for close to 30 years and we value and honor that relationship. We are an Alberta based company and the actions of this franchisee are not in line with the values of this company or this community and the many dedicated and committed franchise partners we have throughout the province and Canada.”
The maximum fine under the Safety Codes Act is $100,000 for each offence and/or imprisonment not exceeding six months.
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