No matter what type of restaurant you run, kitchen safety should be at the top of your priority list. After all, kitchens are dangerous places! Knives, deep fryers, open flame, and so much more that’s just waiting to burn, cut, or otherwise harm those who don’t respect their environment. Beyond that, health requirements are in place both for the safety of staff and customers. So, let’s take a look at a few kitchen safety tips to ensure your kitchen remains safe as can be.
Why Kitchen Safety is Crucial for Restaurants
As mentioned above, kitchen safety is vital for restaurants because kitchens are inherently dangerous environments. Kitchens have quite a few ways in which they can hurt both customers and staff. By ensuring that your restaurant follows the do’s and don’ts for kitchen safety, you can avoid unnecessary complications.
Protecting Employees and Customers
Your employees help keep your restaurant running smoothly. Because of this, we want to ensure that they’re safe and well taken care of whenever possible. Similarly, customers supply your restaurant with a constant stream of revenue, allowing you to keep the doors open. In both cases, following a few basic kitchen safety tips will ensure everyone stays safe.
Avoiding Costly Accidents and Downtime
Beyond the human impact of injuries and workplace accidents, they can be costly for the business. Injuries that happen on the clock will require worker’s compensation and, more often than not, downtime; unfortunately, this means that it can cost the business quite a bit. Your business insurance will likely cost more and you’ll need to schedule longer hours for other employees to cover the gap.
Complying with Health and Safety Regulations
Health and safety regulations are arguably the most important part of working in a kitchen. Guests place their health into our hands, meaning it’s crucial that we strictly follow laws intended to prevent cross-contamination, serving undercooked or poorly prepared food, and maintain a generally clean kitchen.
Common Types of Kitchen Safety Rules
General Safety Guidelines
One of the first things that new chefs learn in the kitchen is how to call what they’re doing. While it feels (and sounds) odd at first, it’s crucial to being able to move quickly, effectively, and safely in kitchens that are often quite crowded. A few examples of this include calls like:
- “Behind”
- “Hot”
- “Sharp”
- “Moving down/past”
- “Corner”
You may notice that each call is short, concise, and easy to understand without elaboration— and that’s the point. In short, call what you’re doing or if you have anything that’s potentially dangerous (e.g., hot, sharp, or excessively heavy).
Beyond that, it’s important to understand how to avoid cross-contamination, how to properly sanitize surfaces, and how to carry and use various dangerous tools.
Fire Safety and Prevention
Fire safety and prevention is especially important in kitchens that use gas appliances due to the fact that they use an open flame. This makes how you lay out your kitchen incredibly important; for example, your gas range shouldn’t be next to your deep fryer — a single splash of oil can lead to a big fireball. Similarly, ensure to have your fire prevention systems regularly inspected and maintained.
Another common mistake in many kitchens is to store hot things improperly. For example, when filtering a fryer, it’s crucial to remove any solids and allow them to cool before being placed in the trash. Similarly, be sure to cool rags that have hot oil (or anything else hot, for that matter) before placing them with other linens — you’d be surprised how many fires both of those can start.
Food Safety Standards
When it comes to food safety, I’ve found that following a few simple rules tends to make everything far easier:
- Constantly clean yourself and your work space.
- Avoid cross-contamination with proper preparation.
- Use gloves.
The first is relatively self explanatory; the cleaner your space, the better.
The second point ties back into the mindset of mise en place. Cross-contamination can be avoided by using tools that have been pre-established for use with gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, vegetarian, halal, or kosher diets. Similarly, simply using separate cooking spaces to cook pork, gluten, or other common allergens can make things far easier.
As for the third point, it’s about as self-explanatory as things get — wash your hands, use gloves, and repeat as much as needed.
Equipment and Appliance Safety
Learning how to properly use your tools is one of the most important parts of any trade. In restaurants, the first tool that we get kitchen safety tips on is usually the knife. Carry it pointing down, parallel to your legs, and call “sharp” when walking with it. Never point it at other people, never hand it to someone blade-first, and avoid gesticulating (talking with your hands) while using a knife.
As for other equipment, the usual tips for any power tool apply — no jewelry, no loose hair, and respect the tool that you use. Use any guides or safety tools that are provided (like cut gloves).
Do’s and Don’ts for Kitchen Safety
Do’s for Ensuring Kitchen Safety
- Communicate: The more you communicate, the easier and safer your job will be.
- Ask for help when you need it: Don’t try to lift things that are too heavy, reach things that are too high, or do tasks alone that need more than one person to do them safely.
- Be realistic: If a guest asks if you can accommodate their dietary needs, and you’re not sure, don’t lie — tell them the truth. Some restaurants are simply incompatible with certain dietary restrictions.
- Get to know your inspectors: From the health department to the fire marshall, get to know the people who inspect your business. They’ll be more likely to help you out and provide advice, and you’ll be better prepared to keep a safe workplace.
Don’ts to Avoid in the Kitchen
- Don’t move erratically or too quickly: Especially with open flame and sharp items around, it’s crucial to not move unpredictably. Take your time, move with purpose, and call your movements.
- Don’t leave burners running unattended: It doesn’t matter if it’s “just for a minute,” an unwatched burner can not only burn your food, but is also a major fire hazard.
- Don’t leave knives where they can’t be easily seen: Whether this is wedged somewhere in your line, buried under food or equipment, or submerged in a sink, your knife should be put away (clean and safe) when not in direct use.
Top Kitchen Safety Tips for Restaurants
Regularly Train Staff on Safety Protocols
As we’ve said time and again, training should never end once introductions are done; it should be a constant part of restaurant life. Whether it’s to coach staff on important safety protocols, teach them how to safely use new equipment, or to more effectively use gear safely, training is an extremely valuable tool.
Beyond that, running various exercises to ensure that everyone knows how to handle specific types of fires (gas vs. oil vs. wood/paper), emergencies, or biohazards is just good practice. A prepared team is one that can keep its cool during even the craziest of nights.
Use Proper Storage for Hazardous Materials
Hazardous materials have a place in kitchens, and that’s far away from any food. Whether it’s chemicals for cleaning or specific regulated substances like curing salt, be sure to have a dedicated space for it to remain safely away from food. This is especially important when getting a health inspection, as the health department doesn’t like seeing cleaning chemicals within spilling distance of food. Generally, it’s best to keep them in a dry storage area.
Install and Maintain Safety Equipment
Safety equipment is there for a reason, so use it! Install a fire suppression system and industrial hood, and ensure that they’re regularly maintained and in working order. Additionally, equipment like deli slicers come with safety guides that can be removed — ensure you leave them on and keep things safe.
Similarly, gear like cut gloves and guides for mandolins are provided to ensure that your chefs remain unharmed, so make your staff use them.
Establish Clear Emergency Procedures
Should things go wrong, it’s important to have a clear plan in place. Your managers should know where to get employees to, who to call, and how to handle various specific emergencies. For example, ensure that your staff knows to extinguish oil fires by smothering them (and not with water).
Beyond that, it’s important to be proactive. Have a list of contractors, emergency services, and resources to contact in an emergency, and ensure that everyone knows where it is. Lay out what to do in the case of a fire, ventilation failure, gas leak, and any other potential issues that you can foresee — after all, it’s best to be overly prepared than to be caught unprepared.
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