All workplaces should aspire to be as safe as possible for a number of reasons. At the top of the reasons to focus on safety is to keep your employees healthy and happy. Safety also helps to reduce the cost of workers compensation insurance. Safer workplaces can save lives and save money at the same time. Restaurants, especially need to focus on safety because of the amount of direct contact employees have with the general public. As it relates to workers comp insurance, safer working environments can reduce workers compensations claims and avoid losses in productivity when injuries do occur by reducing the likelihood of injuries and improving employee morale.
With respect to restaurants, most work related injuries are preventable! It is important to identify and eliminate hazards by planning and good decision-making about how get work accomplished.
The most common workplace injury in restaurants is sprains and strains. Bruises, burns and cuts are also common. In general, a good plan of attack in restaurants is to remove or isolate workplace hazards, improve work practices and use protective equipment and clothing when appropriate.
An illustrative example is helpful to understand this roadmap. For example, many restaurant workers get burned cleaning deep fryers, or when lowering frozen food into the fryers. Aspects of the hazard can be removed by installing grease pans which automatically dump grease for cleaning.
An example of safer workplace practices would be to train the importance of and require the shaking of ice crystals off frozen foods before putting them into the deep fryer. This simple practice can help reduce and avoid dangerous splattering. There is numerous protective clothing and equipment which can be worn including gloves, long aprons and sleevelets. Any of this protective clothing should resist heat and grease up to at least 400 degrees.
Obviously, the best situation is when workplace hazards can be completely eliminated. This eliminates the necessity of employees following procedures or using personal protective equipment with respect to certain potential hazards. Employees following procedures or using personal protective equipment is of course a desirable practice for reducing exposures. However, in practice, both of these can be lacking when restaurants get very busy.
Thus, it is best if restaurant environments can be safe workplaces even as busy working conditions makes it less likely that employees will utilize ideal practices. Eliminating and isolating workplace hazards is the best solution to reducing workplace injuries in restaurants, especially when things get very busy.
For any restaurant, it is import to create a safe workplace with respect to the most common workplace hazards. With respect to cooking surfaces and ovens, there should be built-in guard bars, overcrowding should be avoided, pots should not be filled too full, burner flames should only cover the bottom of pans, pot handles should be set away from burners and not stick out over the end of a cooking surface, tongs should be used to lower food into boiling water, and hot oil and grease should never be left unattended.
With respect to knife safety, the correct size and types of knives are important, box cutters should be provided for opening boxes, knives should be stored properly in areas where the blades are guarded, knives must be kept sharp, knives should never be left in soaking water, a damp cloth should be placed under cutting boards in use to avoid slippage, and it is important to let falling knives fall (as opposed to trying to catch them) – simply step back and warn others. Cut resistant gloves are also helpful.
Another major concern is slips and falls. It is important to wear non-skid, slip-resistant shoes, have safety mats, have enough work space and avoid moving too quickly, keep walkways clear and free of clutter, maintain carpet and flooring in good conditions, don’t carry items that are so tall they obscure vision, and warn others when walking behind them.
Although this blog only scratches the surface of restaurant safety, hopefully it gives you a flavor of ways to increase employee safety in your restaurant.
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