My newer Daikin heat pump has a plastic grill on the back, held on in a tenuous way, which moves around a lot on the breeze. It's 10cm or less from the wall. It's in a place that people can walk past, but wouldn't, and any kids walking past would be supervised as it's not far from the road. There's very little chance of anyone touching back there.

The primary function of the grill seems to be trapping leaves that blow back there. Because it's quite a tight area they're difficult to remove, and they build up quickly as there's a big tree next door that's shedding leaves at the moment. Is there any reason I shouldn't remove that grill?