The foodservice industry is a rapidly growing sector. It includes everything from airline food preparation to restaurants. It is a large and varied industry that encompasses all sorts of smaller segments. The foodservice industry is primarily concerned with providing meals to people outside their homes. This includes both producing meals and distributing them.
The industry is also one that is often marred by workplace-related injuries and accidents. From cuts to burns to falls, there are a lot of ways to get injured. Injuries in this fast-paced industry can lead to pretty severe consequences. It can result in the complete shutdown of an organization or the permanent disability of a worker.
By improving the workplace safety of a food service company, there can be numerous benefits. Fewer accidents mean that your organization has to spend less money on insurance claims, which can rapidly eat into your profits. As margins can often be razor-thin in the industry, any extra penny saved is valuable.
Fewer injuries and accidents mean that employees can work for longer. It can reduce employee absenteeism, and that improves the cost-efficiency of each of your workers. The more time they spend on the job and not dealing with injuries, the better it is for your business.
General Safety Tips for the Kitchen from John Spach
- No Running
People in the kitchen are often in a hurry. Strict time pressures and the stress to perform mean that every person is trying to be as quick as possible. But running in the kitchen is the quickest way to a whole host of terrible injuries.
- Pay Attention
Injuries like cuts and burns often happen in the kitchen because of a lack of attention. When you are working in a kitchen, you should be completely focused on what you are doing. Do not work while you are under the influence of alcohol, medication, or drugs. Similarly, do not work if you haven’t had adequate sleep before your shift.
- Equipment Training
The kitchen is home to a lot of very sharp and pointy objects. That is not to mention all the various objects that you can burn yourself on. That is why you should never operate any machinery or equipment which you have no idea about. It doesn’t matter if you already know how to use it. Only after proper training should you be accessing any equipment.
A safer environment leads to better employee morale. Stress is a very common part of the job for employees in the foodservice industry. If employees at least feel safe in their work environment, they are able to remove one factor that may be causing them undue stress.
Less stress leads to better employee morale and job satisfaction. Which in turn leads to increased productivity in the organization. Reducing the risk of injuries also means that your company can retain talented individuals for longer and attract other people to work for you as well.
That’s why John Spach says that the foodservice industry needs proper workplace safety protocols. A vast majority of kitchen accidents are completely preventable. By following these tips, one can considerably reduce accidents.
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