Ways to Ensure Safety in a Commercial Kitchen

If you own a commercial kitchen in California, then you know there are a lot of rules to follow in order to guarantee safety at your establishment. You must be sure and follow the rules related to safety of your building and appliances, food handling, environmental regulations and overall safety of your staff and customers.

As you no doubt know, you must follow local business codes and zoning regulations under your local planning department. Your appliances and plumbing system must conform to the Uniform Mechanical Code.

Food handling is a major safety concern. Food poisoning sends more than 128,000 people in the United States to the hospital every year. As a commercial kitchen owner, you have the responsibility to provide safe food to the public you serve. This means you have to be familiar with all aspects of food safety as specified by the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Services. All commercial kitchen facilities should anticipate regular inspections from the California Department of Public Health.

Germs can survive all over your kitchen. This means you have to wash your hands, utensils, cutting boards, dishes, utensils, and countertops with hot, soapy water. This is especially important after you have worked with raw meat, poultry, seafood or eggs.

You must refrigerate perishable foods within 2 hours because bacteria that causes food poisoning multiplies quickest between 40°F and 140°F. Your refrigerator should be set to 40°F or below and your freezer to 0°F or below. The safest way to thaw or marinate meat, poultry and seafood is in the refrigerator, never on the counter. Freezing doesn’t destroy germs, but it can keep food safe until you cook it. Be sure to check all food and throw it out before harmful bacteria can grow.

Making sure your kitchen is safe is not an easy task. A kitchen is a busy, high stress workplace, and it’s important that you stay alert for hazards. Most common dangers can be tripping over another employee or falling. In a kitchen you could drop anything on the floor that could be boiling hot or slippery when you aren’t paying attention. The knives and appliances that you use in a commercial kitchen can have sharp edges or can turn into a dangerous item if you aren’t paying attention. It’s almost like a dance when you’re in a professional kitchen; you have be alert for hazards, work well with your team, and at the same time try and avoid any serious injuries.

When an injury happens, it is important that you stop and check on the injury. Completing an incident report is required no matter how small the accident. This is a way of protecting both your employee and your company.

Kitchen safety has its own set of workplace hazards. If you don’t approach them with caution, a serious accident could close your entire kitchen down. If you are prepared for these risks, you will have a safe environment for your team.