Commercial kitchens are the places where chefs whip up delicious edible creations, but that’s not the only thing. It’s also a place where things can get out of hand if proper precautions aren’t taken. You need to keep everything tidy and maintained. Train your staff well and get help from commercial kitchen appliance repair companies for maintaining your equipment. Let’s take a look at the most important things to take care of for preventing hazards in a commercial kitchen.

Commercial Kitchen Hazards Prevention Tips

No Overcrowding

The first order of importance when it comes to preventing hazards or accidents in commercial kitchens is to avoid overcrowding of the space. The kitchen is big, no doubt, but that doesn’t mean that you can fill it up with a lot of people and then everyone is bumping into each other. Even though you might think that this is no big problem, it can lead to a lot of issues.

Firstly, hot foods are being handled in the kitchen and every chef and worker needs ample space to be able to walk around freely with hot pots of food and water, without the stress of bumping into someone else. This is important because you’ll prevent a potential burning hazard and with a lot of space, the productivity and efficiency will increase too.

So, whatever you do, make sure that, if you have a lot of workers in the kitchen, manage the shifts timely, so that small groups of people can work effortlessly in the kitchen with efficiency and not get hurt during the process.

Keep Flammable Things Away

Another thing that is common in commercial kitchens is fire and flammable things. Aerosol cans, cylinders, and other pressurized containers are always a threat and risk in the kitchen, especially when the temperatures get past a certain degree. So, it’s better if you make your kitchen a safe zone for the people working in it.

This is possible by keeping fire and flammable things away from each other because they don’t go together and things will take a detrimental turn if you are not too careful in this regard.

Burn Protection

Speaking of fire, there is also the risk of chefs and workers getting burned by the stoves or hot things that they’re dealing with. Apart from burns, there also a risk of issues caused by heat exposure. This is why it’s important to make safety a priority when dealing with open or dangerous flames and high heat.

A kitchen is a place where everything is at different and dangerous temperatures, so you need to ensure that all of the chefs and workers are safe from the flames. This is possible by installing shields and splatter guards all over the working stations so that the chefs can stay safe and still cook amazing things at the same time.

Staff Training Is A Must

The next order of importance is the training of the staff working in the commercial kitchen. This is extremely important because no safety measure can top up the training of staff and that is important if you want everything in your kitchen to run smoothly.

For this, you need to go back to ground zero. This implies that you need to hire people who are trained professionals and even offer them training to work in a commercial kitchen under different circumstances, whether it’s packed, relaxed, or working under the stress of completing a big order. Only those workers who pass the training will get the green light to work in your kitchen full-time.

A Chemical-Free Zone

The next thing that you need to take care of is making your commercial kitchen a chemical-free zone. This is important because your kitchen is not a place where chemicals should be in the first place, so you need to ensure that you’re clearing them out, in case someone steps on it or spills a harsh chemical all over the floor.

This might seem like a non-issue, but it’s going to turn drastic within minutes. So, always try to keep your kitchen safe from such hazards.

Communication

This is also a very important thing to do and it will save you and your kitchen from a lot of trouble. You need to have a clear line of communication between you and your workers and chefs for your kitchen staff safety.

This is crucial, especially for bigger kitchens where you can’t always go back and forth. Train your workers to holler out whenever there is a potential hazard rearing its head. You don’t want to keep quiet about it and you want it to be the priority. This might sound obvious, but you will be surprised at how much people will forget about this fact. You mustn’t fall victim to this too.

Deal With Hazards Straight Away

Whenever you face a hazard, you need to drop everything and deal with it first. This is important because if you let things stay unnoticed for too long, then that is going to do more bad than good for you and you don’t want that, especially when you’re working in a commercial kitchen.

So, whenever you see something like a spill or a small fire breaking out, you want to drop everything and suppress the hazard first. Priorities need to be straight in times like these.

Be Organized

Do you know the number one reason for hazards? Not being organized. This is bad not only for the kitchen and the workers’ productivity but also for the way everything is handled in the kitchen.

You want to ensure that your kitchen is a neat and clean space with no boxes or things littered around. The less the mess is, the fewer chances of hazards there will be, so always make it a priority to keep your kitchen neat and organized, especially after a long day of work. It will be ready for you to dive elbows deep in preparing the food the next day.

Use The Right Gear

This is mainly for anyone working in the commercial kitchen, but you need to have the right gear and protective clothing. Chef’s whites are important, but aprons, gloves, and goggles for protecting the eyes, especially if you’re sizzling something up, are crucial.

You will be surprised at how much people neglect the importance of safety gear while preparing food. It not only keeps the chef safe but also prevents hazards from getting serious in the long run. So, if you look after the people operating the kitchen, then everything will be perfect.

Regular Kitchen And Equipment Inspection

You want to make regular inspections a priority as well. Something as simple as a crack or spill can turn into a hazard, so you want to make sure that you eye everything once every few weeks. If it is a busy commercial kitchen, then you want to conduct regular inspections.

If the kitchen is small and in tip-top condition, then a monthly inspection will suffice. But the point is to take a look at things around the kitchen, like gas leaks, broken faucets, and other things, because then you can spring into action timely.

Conclusion

Hazards are kind of probable, especially when you’re working with flames, food, and other things in between. So, keeping these things in mind will ensure that you’re keeping your kitchen and the people inside it safe. Inspection and maintenance of appliances and equipment is critical to avoid hazards so consult commercial appliances repair Alexandria services for that.