Restaurant Safety: Tips & Rules to Follow to Stay Safe

6 Important Restaurant Safety Tips

Restaurant safety training is vital to ensuring a healthy environment for both staff and customers. With restaurant safety rules continually changing, let’s look at some essential restaurant safety topics that apply to most pubs, bars, and eateries.

Whether you follow the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) kitchen safety guidelines, or you’re working on a unique restaurant safety program for your employees, this post will provide relevant information.

By the end of this post, you’ll have some excellent restaurant safety meeting topics to add to your schedule. So, without further ado, let’s dive into our restaurant safety training guide:

Critical Tips for Restaurant Safety

1. Invest in High-Quality Equipment and Protective Uniforms

Even a highly qualified chef with years of experience can be at risk if they don’t have access to a protective uniform. When it comes to restaurant kitchen safety, protective footwear, and chef’s whites can significantly reduce the risk of accidental burns.

Cheap, low-quality uniforms for kitchen and bar staff will not offer the same protection level as quality materials. Additionally, they will start to rip and fade quickly, looking scruffy and potentially giving customers a  bad impression. Low-quality trousers or skirts can increase the risk of trips, slips, or falls. These incidents could place your staff in danger and see management facing legal action.

2. Train All Staff in Food Safety and Hygiene

Food safety and hygiene are integral parts of any restaurant safety program. If you want to prevent cross-contamination and food poisoning, your employees must be fully trained in all aspects of food storage, temperature control, and cleaning methods.

Food must be handled safely at all times, especially meats, as they can cause salmonella if stored incorrectly or undercooked. Your staff must undergo regular training so that they remain up-to-date on the latest health and safety regulations. The health of your team and your customers’ health is essential for a profitable business.

3. Take Fire Safety Seriously

Without implementing stringent fire safety procedures, your restaurant is not safe. Fire is one of the most life-threatening incidents that can occur in a bar, restaurant, or cafe premises. So, make sure you have appropriate fire safety equipment accessible to all staff. Additionally, designate and train key fire-safety staff to take control in the event of an incident.

If an accident involving fire occurs, you should:

• Keep all flammable objects away from flames.
• Make sure your staff knows how to extinguish different types of fire and which hydrant/extinguisher to use. Bear in mind that there is no single extinguisher that can eliminate all blazes.
• Have a clear evacuation plan in place and on display somewhere that is visible to all staff.
• Train all employees how to switch off electrical power and gas in the event of an emergency.

4. Prevent Sprains, Strains, Trips, and Falls

When it comes to restaurant safety, the kitchen is a particularly hazardous area, especially during peak hours. Spillages are one of the most common causes of injury in a restaurant. Worse still, they can place both your customers and employees in danger.

Ensure that any spillages are marked with ‘wet floor’ signs, and try to deal with them as quickly and efficiently as possible. Also, invest in some slip-resistant kitchen floor mats and grease-resistant mats; this will add a layer of security to the kitchen area and keep your hard-working staff safe.

5. Prevent Eye Injuries and Burns

When your employees are rushing around to prepare and serve food on time, it’s easy for hot liquids to splash and spill. Burns are one of the leading causes of accidents in the restaurant industry, even without fire.

Chemicals and grease can easily lead to burns if they are uncovered. However, you can prevent burns and injury by purchasing appropriate safety uniforms for all staff and investing in professional health and safety training.

Kitchen gloves and safety mitts can help protect staff who are tasked with cooking and cleaning duties. Additionally, eye washing sinks and first aid kits can help eliminate minor injuries before they become severe.

6. Teach Your Employees the Importance of Sanitation

To protect your staff, customers, and reputation, your team must be fully trained in the importance of sanitation. This is especially relevant in recent times when poor sanitation could potentially spread COVID-19 throughout your premises and result in closure.

Ensure that your staff undertakes regular training sessions, so restaurant safety is embedded in the subconscious and becomes automatic whenever they complete tasks in the workplace.

Stay Safe and Successful

A successful restaurant can be full of unseen hazards, but you can minimize risks to your staff and customers by implementing and following robust restaurant safety procedures.

This article was written by our friends at Revel Systems.