Equipping your restaurant kitchen is one of the most crucial parts of starting your business. It can also entail safety risks given the sensitive nature of some kitchen equipment.
You can lose significant amounts in capital and productivity to accidents and illnesses in a commercial kitchen. In 2019, for instance, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that there were 93,800 nonfatal injuries and illnesses in full-service restaurants. About one-third of affected workers required at least one day away from work.
Restaurant safety is a vital element to your business’s success, which is why we’re here to help you build a safer restaurant kitchen.
Safety Hazards in a Restaurant Kitchen
Before diving into the kitchen safety tips, let’s first identify the common hazards you may find in a commercial kitchen.
1. Slip, Trip, and Fall Hazards
According to e-Safety Manual, the majority of injuries in restaurants are due to slip, trip, and fall hazards. Make sure the following items and scenarios in your restaurant are controlled to avoid such injuries:
- Slippery and blocked walkways
- Leaks due to improper food handling or water line issues
- Carrying heavy loads while on a ladder
- Using unstable stools for elevation
- Violence among workers or customers
Having your restaurant professionally inspected can help you identify more potential hazards in this category.
2. Cut, Laceration, and Puncture Hazards
Lacerations represented almost 16% of injuries among restaurant workers in 2009. During that period, knife injuries were more common than slips, trips, and falls.
Take note of these kitchen tools that can create cut, laceration, and puncture hazards:
- Knives, peelers, and slicers
- Meat grinders, handheld blenders
- Ice picks
- Kitchen shears and other specialty cutting tools
3. Fire and Burn Hazards
Fire and burn hazards come from cooking equipment and, potentially, electrical systems. Whether you’re using gas-powered or electric equipment, it’s important to note fire hazards when designing your commercial kitchen.
Fires and burns can also come from mishandling equipment or kitchen malpractices, such as:
- Cooking with oil at high temperatures without a lid within reach
- Not setting timers when there’s food simmering on the stove or baking in the oven
- Leaving spills or residues that may be flammable
- Cooking with loose clothing that may catch flames
- Not monitoring food temperatures
4. Health Hazards
Health hazards in a restaurant kitchen don’t just affect food safety. It can also affect the safety and health of staff members while at work.
Here are some examples of how health hazards can cause injuries and illnesses:
- Exposing food to harmful chemicals like cleaning supplies; cleaning agents can be flammable, risking a kitchen fire
- Insufficient ventilation; limited air circulation can spread air-borne diseases like COVID-19 and the flu fast
Now that we’ve identified the common safety hazards in a restaurant kitchen, let’s now go through the things you can do to prevent them.
7 Commercial Kitchen Safety Tips
Aside from noting the examples above, you can practice the following to boost your restaurant’s safety:
1. Set Kitchen Safety Policies
A kitchen accident can hinder productivity in the backend and delay order fulfillment, upsetting some customers.
Setting kitchen safety practices can help lower the chances of an accident. You can start by strictly requiring your kitchen staff to wear uniforms and proper cooking gear. Make sure they are tailored to fit each staff member. Properly fitting uniforms and gears help them stay clean and safe throughout their shifts.
Don’t forget to regulate footwear as well. It would be wise to require close-toed footwear so your kitchen staff can avoid skin injuries due to spills, splashes, or cuts.
2. Optimize Kitchen Layout
You can prevent work-related injuries with an efficient kitchen design and layout. Generally speaking, there are three ways to configure a commercial kitchen space: island configuration, open configuration, or ergonomic configuration.
In an island configuration, an island sits in the center of the space while the rest of the counters are built on the perimeter. The cooking equipment is usually fitted on the island, and the food prep areas are on the perimeter counters. This layout can suit spacious commercial kitchens because it allows for a natural flow of traffic.
If your space is smaller, an open configuration may serve you better. However, it may be partly exposed to your customers. If you run a pizzeria or any other casual dining establishment, the open configuration may suit your business best.
In many cases, an ergonomic configuration works best in any commercial kitchen because it is designed for your employees’ needs and comfort. So whether you have a small or spacious restaurant kitchen, ergonomics will ensure that your cooking equipment won’t cause harm and the food prep areas allow for an efficient traffic flow.
3. Train Your Kitchen Staff on Knife Safety
Since orders need to be served fast, your cooks will cut, slice, mince, and dice ingredients with haste. So it’s crucial that you train them how to use knives and other cutting tools properly. You can read the user manual of each tool to ensure that you’re training your staff according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After all, different knives require different handling techniques.
Besides that, train your staff on how to react if an accident happens, like a knife slipping from their hand, for example. In that scenario, it’s better for the worker to let the knife fall instead of attempting to catch it. With their safety footwear, the blunt edge of the knife won’t injure their foot. They can pick up the knife when it’s already safe to do so.
On the other hand, if they try to catch the knife mid-fall, they may hurt their hands and require time off work. So include these scenarios in your safety handbook to keep knife-related injuries in check.
4. Handle Hot Food With Care
Since serving customers hot food is a must, kitchen staff members work quickly and plate orders as soon they leave the stove or oven. This can increase their risks for minor or even major burns.
Aside from wearing kitchen safety gear like aprons and gloves, your kitchen staff should position pot and pan handles away from the stove’s edge. If the handles are hanging off the edge, someone might bump into them and spill the pot’s or pan’s hot contents. Not only does this waste food, but also injures someone nearby.
Burns can also happen if utensils are directly placed on a hot surface. Put them away from running stoves or ovens to prevent someone from handling them unprotected. If a cook or chef needs to grab hot utensils, they should be wearing heat-resistant gloves.
Someone should always be watching running stoves, grillers, and ovens. And—as it goes without saying—turn off any cooking equipment that’s not in use.
Flammables, like rags, washcloths, hand towels, paper towels, and pot racks should be away from cooking equipment. Your staff should be trained to put them back where they got them after each use.
In addition, make sure that flammable liquids like cleaning agents and disinfectants are stored away from the kitchen. Before your cleaning staff comes into the kitchen, ensure that all gas-powered appliances are turned off. You can also teach them how to turn and tighten the knobs on gas tanks so they can double-check if all gas appliances are safe.
5. Get Your Fire Safety Training on Point
Fire safety is perhaps the most critical part of any restaurant safety plan. The kitchen isn’t the only place where a fire can start; dining tables can also be at risk, especially if you allow smoking on your premises.
Nonetheless, fires typically start in the kitchen, so your kitchen staff must be trained in preventing and stopping fires. Teach them how to use a fire extinguisher, and install fire safety devices like smoke detectors and sprinklers outside the kitchen.
Have a professional fire safety inspector survey your restaurant as well. They can recommend other fire safety practices, like where to put fire exits and fire-resistant building materials to use.
6. Install Adequate Ventilation
Stuffy air can increase heat levels in a commercial kitchen. It can make your workers uncomfortable and possibly sick. And because the air doesn’t circulate well, they may spread those diseases fast.
Avoid discomforts and air-borne illnesses by installing adequate ventilation in your commercial kitchen. Put hoods or exhaust vents above stoves and ovens. There should also be a working ventilation system for the entire space. Shutters and kitchen windows are great examples, especially when exposed to sunlight. They will help purify your kitchen’s air and let some cool air in.
You can also add ceiling fans to increase ventilation and cool air. Just place them away from prep areas to avoid lightweight items from scattering.
A central air-conditioning system is also key to restaurant safety. Make a maintenance schedule for your A/Cs to keep the air it circulates fresh and cool. Then have it professionally serviced every year or so. Regular servicing keeps your ducts unclogged, helping you consume energy efficiently at all times.
7. Invest in a Restaurant Management System
Investing in a restaurant management system, from cloud-based POS to Kitchen Display Systems (KDS), can help you keep track of your costs and operations more closely.
A KDS helps enhance restaurant safety because it allows your kitchen staff to track every order that’s sent to them. As a result, no one will forget about food that’s simmering on the stove or baking in the oven. What’s more, a KDS eliminates order slips, which is another flammable material that can increase fire risks in your commercial kitchen.
However, you need to make sure that your KDS won’t increase fire risks in your kitchen either. A KDS is made up of electronic monitors, so it should be installed at a safe distance away from cooking equipment. That way, the monitors won’t overheat or catch fire.
Apart from that, have a licensed electrician inspect your entire restaurant’s electrical system. Even if all outlets are working, the system may become vulnerable when all your electronics are connected. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’d experience a blackout as a result, but external threats, like lightning, can cause some electrical disturbances.
And if electrical issues disrupt your kitchen operations, that may cost you some orders and fresh food. So don’t overlook professional inspections when putting your systems in place.
Enhance Restaurant Safety With Training and Technology
An effective training program will significantly help increase restaurant safety. Make retraining your yearly agenda to keep your staff’s knowledge and skills up to date.
Expand your staff’s knowledge of restaurant technology as well. Familiarity with your systems will help optimize many aspects of your restaurant business, such as inventory management, order management, and restaurant reporting. You can track these areas and ensure that your efficiency reflects on your restaurant’s safety.
But of course, no system is foolproof, so don’t forget to implement protocols for kitchen emergencies. If you can handle high-alert situations with a level head, employees and customers can count on your restaurant’s safety, contributing to a positive working or dining experience.