Meet the regulations with an OSHA kitchen safety checklist

1. What does OSHA do for kitchen safety?

1. What are the new OSHA kitchen safety standards regarding heat exposure?

2. Which items should be included in the OSHA kitchen safety checklist?

3. Benefits of OSHA kitchen safety with digital checklist

1. What does OSHA do for kitchen safety?

OSHA will be conducting detailed inspections of both full-service and limited-service restaurants. They’re creating a target list of establishments suspected of COVID-19 safety violations. Inspectors can show up unannounced to inspect your food service facility for COVID-19 safety compliance, as well as other possible violations.

OSHA is especially concerned that employees be protected from retaliation when they raise concerns about workplace safety. Employees at restaurants and other commercial kitchens are at increased risk when it comes to COVID-19, since they are generally in close contact with customers and other employees.

In addition to COVID-19 safety, OSHA is also prioritizing protecting kitchen employees from heat stress and injury. In September of 2021, new OSHA kitchen safety standards were announced in line with the new enforcement initiative to protect commercial kitchen staff from heat-related illness and death. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, heat kills an average of 38 employees per year in the US… but that number may be much higher. Since the cause of death is usually a heart attack, it can be difficult to determine if heat is the primary trigger.

Take the case of a 37-year old prep cook in Michigan who died due to complications of heat stress. On the day of his death, he worked from 8:50 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. He told his supervisor he wasn’t feeling well and was sent home. Once home, he went to relax in his garage, which had been converted into a den. And there he was found dead, later that afternoon.

His death could have been prevented if the restaurant had taken measures to reduce the heat hazards at their workplace.

2. What are the new OSHA kitchen safety standards regarding heat exposure?

OSHA kitchen safety standards regarding heat exposure has changed to take into account increased risk of heat injury to employees.

Kitchens and bakeries are well-known as hot places. Ovens and cooking equipment generate a lot of heat, which often overpowers any attempt at air conditioning.

3. Which items should be included in the OSHA kitchen safety checklist?

To make sure that you’re prepared for a surprise OSHA commercial kitchen safety inspection, your OSHA kitchen safety checklist should also go over the following:

• Review your OSHA 300 Illness and Injury Log to see areas where you might improve kitchen safety.
• If you have employees under 18, go over the OSHA rules for young restaurant workers.
• Look over OSHA regulations regarding kitchen fire safety and dangerous equipment, such as meat grinders.
• Talk with your employees and ask them if they have any safety concerns. It’s much better if they discuss these with you rather than make reports to OSHA.

It’s an excellent idea to have signs up around your workplace reminding employees to maintain OSHA commercial kitchen safety protocols.

Now is the time to go over your plans and policies regarding the following and make sure they’re updated in line with current guidance and well-documented, ready to show the OSHA inspectors:

• PPE policies and compliance
• Employee training with regards new safety protocols

If you follow these guidelines, your food service establishment will be ready to face an OSHA commercial kitchen safety inspection.

4. Benefits of OSHA kitchen safety with digital checklist

Paper checklists have their pitfalls: lost documents and unshared information and work instructions can have disastrous consequences for kitchen operations. Moving to a digital solution simplifies communication and information sharing. With Lumiform, a mobile app and desktop software for audits and inspections, you can provide clear and concise kitchen work instructions while monitoring their execution.

Keep track of kitchen operations by using digital checklists for different kitchen applications. From now on, perform kitchen checks only paperless, and together with your team, benefit from:

• Start going digital right away using kitchen operations checklists from Lumiform's template library.
• Convert existing paper-based checklists into digital templates for your team in just a few steps using the innovative form builder.
• Assign corrective actions instantly from the app to team members, and set priority levels and due dates.
• Generate reports automatically on the spot and share instantly within the organization.
• Save reports and store them securely in the cloud.