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Not just novices slip up on safety in the kitchen. Slips and falls, strains and sprains, cuts and lacerations, and burns are the four leading categories of kitchen injuries. Restaurateurs who implement comprehensive safety-training programmes can help keep their employees and themselves out of harm's way.
In a kitchen, an accident is always waiting to happen; it only needs an opportunity – and there are plenty of those in a typical restaurant kitchen: slippery floors, knives and other sharp tools, hot surfaces, heavy pieces of movable equipment, awkward food packages, and congested quarters. Add to those dangers the flurry of activity during a lunch or dinnertime rush, and a kitchen is the prime setting for a serious incident. In this very fast-paced industry, people’s focus may be on other things – preparing meals, serving meals, serving customers – so it is important for employees and supervisors to constantly reinforce good safety techniques.
Kitchen accidents can cause pain to more than just the injured employee, and the repercussions can be felt long after the injury has healed. Injured servers, kitchen workers and food-prep workers miss, on average, five days of work following an accident; an amount of time that can quickly add up to an unhealthy bill for employers.
A longer-lasting effect of kitchen injuries is their impact on the restaurateur's workers' compensation premiums. Some employers accept injury losses as the price of doing business, while some refuse to tolerate any safety infractions. All want to safeguard their employees against injuries, however.
Training is the cornerstone of any safety programme. The realities of restaurant work, however – high turnover and strict time constraints – sometimes mean that both time and money available for training are tight. A workforce that is largely young and inexperienced compounds the problem. Many of the individuals who are coming to work for a foodservice operation are coming to work for the first time. Not only are managers teaching employees the fundamentals of kitchen and food safety and how to make a recipe item, they are also teaching them how to work. Employees can only receive so much information and training at one time. It is thus imperative for managers to integrate job safety into an employee's job responsibilities so it is not looked upon by the employee as an additional task that needs doing.
Training needs to cover safety procedures and safety equipment, as well as the proper use of that equipment. There should also be follow-up supervision to make sure employees are following procedures and using the equipment correctly.
The approach to training should be a flexible one. Information should be presented in a variety of ways: written material, visual material and aids, and demonstrations. It should also be as interactive as possible – people learn by doing. The information should also be delivered in short, 10 to 15-minute bursts that are subject specific. If you look at burns in one session, look at slips and falls in a separate session.
While you may think that safety is common sense it is really directly related to behaviour. Make sure your employees know that they are an integral part of your programme – after all, they are the ones responsible for performing a task and should in turn be responsible for, and in control of, their own safety.
To keep your employees safe, consider each of the following potential hazards and identify ways to safeguard your employees.
• Correct attire and equipment – many accidents could have been prevented if only the correct attire was worn in the kitchen, and the correct equipment used. Ensure your workers have long sleeves to protect from burns, and closed-toe, skid-resistant shoes to protect from falling hot liquid, heavy objects, and slips and spills. Ensure they have heavy pans for increased stability and sharp knives for ease of cutting.
• Preventing slips – safeguard against slippery floors by keeping them clean and uncluttered. Choose floor cleaning chemicals with good grease-removal and slip-resistance properties. Establish a floor cleaning schedule. When spills occur, clean them up immediately and post ‘caution’ or ‘wet floor’ signs around the area until the floor is dry. Where necessary, treat floors with slip-resistant coatings or chemical treatments.
• Preventing falls – encourage professional language when employees are moving through crowded areas. Phrases such as ‘behind you’, ‘hot’ and ‘corner’ help prevent collisions and subsequent falls.
• Preventing burns – training should be provided for all on recognising and controlling burn hazards, as well as the treatment thereof. Follow these tips to reduce the hazard:
• Make potholders easily accessible
• Provide adequate space for the safe handling of pots on counter and stove tops.
• Install safety devices such as pressure and temperature relief valves to reduce the potential for the explosion of pressurised systems.
• Lower the temperate of the water heaters to reduce the risk of scalding at taps and sinks.
• Proper knife handling – take the time to train employees on proper knife handling. Knives should be kept sharp, the handles secure and the blades covered while stored. All slicing machine guards should be kept tightly in place and in good working condition. Only well-trained employees should be allowed to operate these machines.
• Moving heavy loads – it is crucial that employees know how to correctly and safely lift heavy loads to reduce the risk of back injury. They should be trained to lift with their legs and not their backs, to take small steps and change direction with their feet and not by twisting their bodies.
• Hazard communication – restaurants and hotels should pay attention to the rules and regulations that govern the safety of their employees, as well as to those on the packaging of their equipment and products.
• Chemicals – cleaning chemicals should be stored in a separate area away from food and heat sources, in their original container and with a tight lid. Employees should be taught to:
• Never mix chemicals.
• Only use chemicals in well-ventilated spaces.
• Follow label directions carefully for preparation, usage and disposal.
• Wash hands before or after using chemicals, unless gloves are required, in which case they should be used.
• Fire prevention – follow the following rules to prevent kitchen fires:
• Never leave dish rags or aprons near a hot surface.
• Never leave stoves or other equipment unattended when in use.
• Don't use equipment that smokes, sparks or otherwise arouses suspicion.
• Clean range hoods and stoves on schedule to help reduce build-up.
• Don't overload electrical outlets.
• Don't use equipment with frayed cords or bent prongs.
• Don't force three-pronged cords into two-prong outlets.
• Employees should know what the fire alarm sounds like, how to turn on the fire alarm, where to find a fire extinguisher, and how to use it. They should also all be familiar with the building evacuation plan.
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