Kitchen safety is the set of practices and controls that protect commercial kitchen workers from burns, cuts, slips, grease fires and chemical exposure during food preparation and cleanup.
Kitchen safety is the set of practices, equipment, training and controls used to protect workers from injury and illness in commercial kitchens, such as those in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, cafeterias and catering operations. It covers the physical hazards of cooking and food preparation as well as fire protection, chemical handling and safe work habits.
Commercial kitchens combine many hazards in a small, fast-paced space. Workers handle hot oil, boiling liquids, sharp knives, powered slicers and mixers, heavy stock pots and cleaning chemicals, often on wet or greasy floors and under time pressure during busy service periods. Many kitchen employees are young, new or part-time, which makes training and supervision especially important.
A strong kitchen safety program prevents common injuries such as burns, cuts and slips, and it reduces the risk of grease fires that can spread into hoods and ductwork and damage an entire building.
A burn injury is one of the most frequent kitchen injuries. Sources include fryer oil, grills, ovens, steam from dishwashers and steam kettles, hot pans and boiling water.
Knives, slicers, mandolines, graters, broken glass and can lids all cause cuts. Good knife safety habits, cut-resistant gloves for tasks like slicing and cleaning blades, and guards on powered equipment reduce these injuries. Slicers and mixers should be unplugged or otherwise de-energized before cleaning.
Spilled oil, water and food debris make kitchen floors slippery. Controls include slip-resistant footwear, floor mats, prompt cleanup of spills, good drainage, wet floor signs and keeping aisles clear of boxes and hoses. Kitchen floors fall under general walking-working surfaces requirements.
Fires involving cooking oils and fats burn very hot and can reignite after they appear to be out. Water must never be used on a grease fire, since it can cause burning oil to spatter and spread. For a small fire in a pan, workers can turn off the heat and cover it with a lid if it is safe to do so.
NFPA 96 covers ventilation control and fire protection for commercial cooking operations. Grease-producing appliances are protected by hoods, grease filters, exhaust ducts and an automatic fire-extinguishing system, usually a wet chemical system that discharges over the appliances and shuts off fuel or power to them. Key practices include:
Class K extinguishers use a wet chemical agent designed for fires in cooking oils and fats. The agent cools the fire and reacts with the hot oil to form a soapy foam layer that helps prevent reignition. NFPA 10 sets a maximum travel distance of 30 feet from the cooking hazard to a Class K extinguisher. Where the hazard is protected by an automatic system, NFPA 10 requires a placard near the extinguisher stating that the fixed system should be activated before the portable extinguisher is used. See fire extinguisher classes for more on how extinguishers are rated.
At a busy hotel restaurant, a line cook was splashed with hot oil while dropping frozen fries into a fryer during the dinner rush. The fries had been stored on top of the fryer station and were covered in ice crystals, which caused the oil to bubble violently. The cook received first aid for minor burns on the forearm, and the kitchen manager recorded the incident and reviewed the fryer area the next morning.
The review found that frozen product was routinely staged too close to the fryers and that several new hires had never been shown how to load baskets safely. The kitchen moved frozen staging to a separate shelf, added a short fryer safety demonstration to new hire training, issued long cuffed gloves for fryer tasks, and confirmed that every cook knew the location of the hood system's manual pull station and the Class K extinguisher.
The most common injuries are burns and scalds, cuts from knives and equipment, and slips, trips and falls on wet or greasy floors. Strains from lifting heavy items are also frequent.
Cooking oil fires burn at very high temperatures and can reignite. Class K wet chemical agents cool the oil and form a foam layer over it, which makes them better suited to cooking oil fires than general purpose dry chemical extinguishers.
Kitchen hood suppression systems are generally inspected and serviced by a qualified technician at least every six months. Hood and duct cleaning frequency depends on the type and volume of cooking.
Yes, but with limits. Federal rules restrict the cooking and hot oil tasks that workers under 16 can perform and prohibit workers under 18 from operating or cleaning certain powered equipment such as meat slicers. Employers should also check state child labor laws.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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