Play with fire and you’ll get burned. Work with fire and the risk remains. No industry accounts for more burn injuries than the restaurant business, which suffers over one-third of all reported workplace burns — more than 12,000 a year.

A serious burn can put a valued employee out of commission and cause related financial issues to flare up, seriously hurting your business.

With the right recipe for safety, however, you can put out this risk and keep your employees safe.

Teach Best Practices

Stress smart safety procedures to workers until they come naturally. For stovetops, flames should only cover the bottom of the pan and handles should be turned away from burners. Restaurant workers should also learn to open lids away from the body and not overfill pots or pans.

Install Safeguards

One of the best ways to prevent burns is by going after the source and making cooking equipment safer to operate. For example: install splash protectors on your grease fryers and provide containing units that dump automatically to avoid employee contact with hot oil.

Require Proper Attire

Cooks and chefs should avoid wearing loose clothing (especially around burners) and keep their sleeves down to their wrist. If a hot liquid does spill, durable, closed-toed shoes will dampen the damage.

Prevent burns by reviewing our foodservice safety checklist. You can also cut down on another industry injury, knife lacerations, with the 10 tips in this blog. To learn more about how Society can help your restaurant, reach out to your local independent agent.