05H — No facility to wash, rinse and sanitize utensils
With no way to properly wash, rinse, and sanitize, every reusable utensil and surface stays dirty and spreads bacteria. The inspector confirms a functional warewashing setup exists. With no working sink or machine, you cannot legally keep using multi-use equipment — so it is cited at 10 points (28 if not corrected) and can halt operations.
What the inspector looks for
Walk to the three-compartment sink. Turn on the hot tap — it must run genuinely hot for effective washing (typically ≥110°F; this is a separate requirement from the 100°F handwash-sink minimum). Check the sanitizer bay: a test strip must read ~50 ppm chlorine or ~200 ppm quat. If the sink is broken, buried under dirty dishes so no bay is open, or has no hot water, that is the violation.
Points & grade impact
Cited at 10 points — Cited at 10 (condition IV); failure to correct → 28. NYC adds every cited violation’s points into one inspection score: 0–13 = A, 14–27 = B, 28+ = C.
How to fix it
Restore a working three-compartment sink or warewashing machine; until then, stop using multi-use utensils that cannot be properly cleaned.
How to prevent it
Maintain a functional warewashing setup (3-compartment sink or machine) with hot water and sanitizer available at all times.
- ✓Keep the three-bay sink set up and unobstructed: wash, then rinse, then sanitize, then air-dry.
- ✓Make sure hot water reaches the warewashing sink and that sanitizer and test strips are always on hand.
- ✓If the dish machine goes down, switch to the three-bay sink immediately rather than stacking dirty wares.
- ✓Keep the sink big enough to submerge your largest regularly used item, and keep a backup sanitizer ready.
Reference: Health Code §81.29(a)
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