Monroe County has completed safety sweeps at local restaurants to check grease trap covers. The action comes in the wake of the death of a toddler in July.
County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo had ordered the inspections after 3-year old Bryce Raynor fell into a grease trap outside the Tim Horton’s restaurant on University Avenue in Rochester on July 15.
His mom, who works there, had brought her son to work that day because she had no one else to watch him. Police said the grease trap lid was made of plastic and did not support the child’s weight.
Dinolfo says the county has now completed safety sweeps of nearly 2,500 local businesses to assess the security of grease trap covers; more than 530 establishments had external grease traps at those locations.
The county inspectors found four deficiencies. Dinolfo says that in those cases, the county health department worked with the business operator to address the concerns and all deficiencies have now been corrected.
She says that Monroe County is not currently responsible for the ongoing inspect of grease traps, but Dinolfo has introduced legislation, called ‘Bryce’s Law,’ to regulate those grease trap covers in the county. A public hearing on the legislation is scheduled for September 10.
State Assembly members Harry Bronson and Jamie Romeo are also drafting legislation requiring locked metal covers, warning signs and annual inspections for grease traps. It would be considered in the next state legislative session, scheduled to begin in January.
