The following article, written by Angela Gardner of Texas Mutual® Insurance Company, offers some great tips on restaurant safety! Angela is the Texas Mutual Insurance Loss Prevention Specialist to the Texas Restaurant Association purchasing group. Austin-based Texas Mutual Insurance Company is the leading provider of workers’ compensation insurance in Texas.

Thanks Angela and Texas Mutual for sharing this great content with our readers!

Serving Up Restaurant Safety
By Angela Gardner

Restaurateurs focus on customer satisfaction, which includes delivering great food and service, but there are many moving parts behind the scenes that are just as important as the food being served. Restaurant supervisors and managers have a responsibility to their employees—including chefs, food runners, bartenders, wait staff, and hosts and hostesses—to keep them safe in the workplace.

According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurants employ nearly 13 million people. Such a large number of employees means a higher potential for accidents. Each restaurant has a team of people working to provide guests the best experience possible. This expectation is dependent on staff safety and welfare. If safety procedures are not practiced, it may affect the entire restaurant and provide some unwanted customer experiences.
Below are some safety guidelines supervisors and managers can follow to best serve their staff, whose main job is to provide great service to others.

Staff Safety Mirrors Customer Safety

• Provide warnings of slippery floors, including areas that have been recently cleaned. Customers often see wet-floor caution signs in the entryway or by the restrooms, but these signs are just as important in the back of the house. In the flurry of kitchen activity, drinks spill, ice overflows and slippery sauces end up on the floor. Spills must be mopped up immediately and caution signs placed to warn servers to take extra care.  In those areas where slippery floors are a constant occurrence, non-slip mats or other surfaces may be justified.
• Educate staff on proper lifting techniques and procedures, as heavy lifting can cause serious back injuries. Provide carts and dollies, and encourage employees to ask for help with heavy items. Store heavy inventory on bottom shelves and make sure shelving is secure. Break inventory into smaller sizes to make it more manageable. Control tray weights and keep plates flat on tray surfaces. Use carts to deliver food when possible.
• Remind servers and kitchen staff to be mindful of hazards associated with food and drink preparation. Chefs and wait staff are constantly working with sharp tools or open flames related to serving and cooking the food. Educate them on proper knife handling, broken glass disposal procedures and potential fire hazards—both how to prevent and extinguish fires.
• Encourage staff to take extra caution when handling hot plates. Many restaurants pride themselves on serving food quickly, but that can mean delivering food on hot plates straight from the kitchen window. Servers often warn customers to take caution as they place plates on the table, but they need to be just as wary of their own safety. Provide staff with arm sleeves, additional napkins or a serving cloth for hot food plates.

Enforce Uniforms for Safety, Not Just Presentation

• Make sure each uniform suits the employee’s particular job. Have a routine uniform check before every shift change to not only ensure presentation compliance, but for safety as well.
• Make sure chefs do not have extra-long or baggy sleeves, especially when they are working with open flames. Yes, the uniform should be comfortable, but it needs to be fitted enough so it does not interfere with food preparation.
• Ensure longer hair is pulled back—this is not only a safety practice to protect customers, but will help prevent hair from dangling in open flames or becoming tangled in moving appliances.
• Check shoes of food runners and servers. Encourage employees to purchase shoes that will offer the most back support since most of their work time is spent on their feet while carrying heavy trays. Make sure shoes also have good traction. As previously mentioned, food and beverage spills happen quite frequently in restaurants, and it is important to be as preventive as possible when dealing with slippery areas.

Continuous Training is the Key

A constant reminder of these practices is necessary to run a successful business. Reiteration of even common safety practices will help prevent on-the-job accidents. Check in often with employees to make sure they are happy, knowledgeable and comfortable in this environment.

• Be mindful of temporary and seasonal workers. Managers may find themselves working with familiar people, but on a rotating basis. Whether an employee works during school semesters or semester breaks, or perhaps between jobs, employers must be aware of the safety education of temporary workers. These workers may not be completely focused on their job if they know there’s impending leave. Distraction is often the cause of workplace accidents, and education is the main prevention for it.
• Be mindful of the high concentration of young workers in restaurants. Restaurant jobs are appealing to teenagers, who may be in the front of the house as hosts or hostesses, or start off as food runners to gain wait staff experience. Whether it’s attributed to plentiful job opportunities or flexible hours, managers often find themselves working with first-time jobholders—and there is no greater need for safety education training than with a less experienced worker. Take extra time to train them, and make sure they understand the priority of workplace safety.

The most important tip to take away from all of this advice is to always communicate with the staff. Keep the lines of communication open between employer and employee, encourage them to ask questions, and be available to hear their concerns. The smoother the operation runs in the back of the house, the smoother it will run in front.