Kitchen safety tips

Kitchen safety tips are important for everyone because, the kitchen is a place where people gather to cook, eat, and socialize. But they also are dangerous places if kitchen safety rules are not taken. Every year, thousands of people are injured in kitchen accidents due to non-compliance with kitchen safety. These accidents can range from minor burns to serious burns, cuts, and even fires due to ignoring safety at home tips.

The good news is that most kitchen accidents are preventable. Hygiene is the main ingredient of kitchen safety tips in every professional kitchen. Mere carelessness in kitchen cleanliness or food preparation can cause cross-contamination and the spread of bacteria, leading to food poisoning.

Kitchen sanitation refers to those favourable measures you take to prevent diseases and protect the health of your family or your customers if you have a restaurant or food business. Its importance lies in the fact that many of the foods you eat, meats and other agricultural products, may contain microbes that affect the body if they are treated incorrectly as well as its easy contamination.

By following a few simple kitchen safety tips and food safety danger zone, you can help keep yourself and your family safe in the kitchen are covered in this HSE blog.

Ktchen safety tips – HSE

Damage to health that occurs in the kitchen is usually caused by incorrect risk management. Any damage or injury (or professional pathology) that the worker may suffer as a result of her/his work is considered a work accident. Among many other accidents, the following can occur if not comply with kitchen safety tips:

• Falls at the same or different level;
• Cuts and punctures with knives and other utensils;
• Shocks and blows;
• Burns with stoves and ovens or hot oil and utensils;
• Problems derived from exposure to cold or heat;
• Fires;
• Electrocutions;
• Slip and trip

For all these reasons, kitchen safety tips must be followed to ensure the proper development of the tasks carried out in the kitchen and the physical health, but also the mental and social health of the people who carry them out.

The Occupational Risk Prevention Law has as its philosophy prevention, acting before damage to health occurs. Among its principles of action, risks must be eliminated or replaced by less harmful elements, or in case of not being able to do so, install protective elements or provide personal Protection Equipment (PPE) to the affected personnel.

Why is kitchen safety important?

It is essential to comply with a series of kitchen safety tips that prevent possible accidents at work and that, on the other hand, offer diners the guarantee of consuming top-quality products in optimal condition.

When we talk about these concepts, we are referring to both food safety and hygiene to avoid fearsome poisoning, as well as the prevention of the most frequent occupational hazards that occur in a professional kitchen context.

Clean and safe kitchens reduce the risks of poisoning due to poor food handling, as long as the necessary precautions are taken to avoid it. Also remember to have all your safety utensils in force, contemplating the previous kitchen safety tips to avoid the possibility of falls, fires, cuts and other dangerous situations in the kitchen.

28 basic kitchen safety tips

kitchen safety tips are essential to guarantee the safety of your work team, remember that it is possible to avoid accidents by taking into account the following recommendations:

1. Picking up your hair will help you maintain the quality and hygiene of food, and it will also help you prevent incidents related to tangled hair, among others.
2. Try to keep paper towels away from the fire, since this, along with the bags, are threats at the time of an incident, so try to keep them away from areas such as the stove.
3. Avoid, as much as possible, that the cigarette tolerance zone is far from the kitchen and public space. Also, remember to avoid handling flammable elements that could harm the kitchen and any other space.
4. Try to choose work clothes that are a little tight to the body, this is to be in contact with fire, and it spreads quickly.
5. Be careful when using stoves and ovens, ventilate the kitchen and those utensils or tools that use gas.
6. Remember to take electronic devices to be repaired by experts, since it is advisable to avoid their use or manipulation if they are presenting faults.
7. Boost safety and reduce accidents with workspaces free of obstacles, as it can mean a fall.
8. Wear appropriate clothing. Avoid wearing loose clothing that could catch fire, and always wear closed-toed shoes.
9. Keep your hair tied back. Long hair can easily get caught in appliances or utensils, which can cause serious injuries.
10. Use potholders or oven mitts when handling hot objects. Never touch hot surfaces with your bare hands.
11. Turn the pot handles away from the front of the stove. This will help prevent children from grabbing them and getting burned.
12. Never leave cooking unattended. Stay in the kitchen while food is cooking, and always turn off the stove when you leave the room.
13. Keep your kitchen clean and free of clutter. This will help prevent slips and falls.
14. Be aware of potential hazards. Sharp knives, hot stoves, and slippery floors are all potential hazards in the kitchen.
15. Teach children about kitchen safety. Make sure children know how to use kitchen appliances safely and teach them about the dangers of hot surfaces and sharp objects
16. Use a fire extinguisher if a fire breaks out. Never pour water on a grease fire.
17. Keep a first-aid kit in your kitchen. This will come in handy if someone is injured in a kitchen accident.
18. Have a plan for what to do in case of a fire. This will help you stay calm and make sure everyone is safe.
19. Use utensils with handles to avoid hand burns,
20. Use tongs to handle large, firm products. When dealing with hot items, hold them firmly and be careful of oil or water splashes.
21. When using tools that have sharp edges and you are inexperienced, use them slowly until you get the hang of it. For example, graters have the potential to cut fingers or hands if you misuse or are distracted.
22. Keep utensils clean to avoid contaminating food. When you dry your hands or store sharp utensils, watch where you place them to prevent accidents.
23. Make sure the gas taps are fully closed
24. Disconnect existing electrical devices around you such as ovens, fryers, and blenders, among others.
25. Try to keep the extraction hoods clean.
26. It reports some anomalies in front of the gas connection such as leaks.
27. Keep kitchen entrances and exits clear.
28. Verify that the kitchen fire extinguishers are current and functional.

Kitchen safety is important for everyone. By following these kitchen safety tips, you can help keep yourself, your family, and your guests safe in the kitchen.

Food storage safety rules

If you preserve food correctly, you will surely avoid losses, especially when your restaurant has special hours. This storage is vital for hygiene and safety in your kitchen. To do so, follow the following kitchen safety tips and recommendations:

• Keep your refrigerator temperature below 40 degrees and your freezer below freezing.
• Wrap meat securely to prevent dripping on other foods.
• Use canned foods before expiration dates.

It is essential to avoid contact between food and air, so make sure to always store them in containers with lids or covered with cling film, especially when they are still hot. If you have a restaurant, try to use a refrigerator that allows a constant internal temperature, even with frequent openings and closings.

In the case of defrosting food, this must be done directly in the refrigerator to prevent the growth of bacteria caused by sudden changes in temperature. The recommendation is that your kitchen is equipped to provide the perfect microclimate and maintain the temperature and moisture content of the food. Food should be served at a temperature of at least 70°C. The danger zone is one where bacteria multiply rapidly and is between 15°C and 55°C.

Kitchen knife safety tips

The proper use of a knife can help prevent serious injuries, avoiding it will depend on following the kitchen safety tips below:

• Always handle knives with care.
• When picking up a knife, make sure you hold it only, to avoid being distracted.
• Keep knives sharp to avoid straining when cutting, slicing, or dicing. A dull knife is more likely to slip and cause an injury. On the other hand, if you cut yourself, sharpening will cause a cleaner cut, easier to care for and heal.
• When cutting round objects, cut one side so that it is flat, then place that side down on the cutting board.

Hold the handle of the knife firmly and place your other hand on the knife to avoid any contact with the blade. On that note, never try to catch it if you drop it. Use a proper knife to avoid injury. Remember that your recipe will determine the best knife for the job. Some of the kitchen safety tips, you can use are:

1. Chef’s knife for mincing and cutting large cuts of meat.
2. Serrated knife for slicing bread, tomatoes or pineapple.
3. Paring knife for peeling fruits, and slicing small fruits/vegetables.
4. A special blade for cutting bones or large cuts of meat.
5. Boning knife for filleting fish or boning chicken.

Hygiene in food handling

The US FDA’s 2009 Food Code cleaning procedures recommend that food employees wash their hands and exposed parts of their arms. Including prosthetic devices, for at least 20 seconds with a cleaning compound in a sink. After that, avoid decontaminating their hands or prosthetics after washing.

Employees should use disposable paper towels every time they touch surfaces such as faucet handles and bathroom doorknobs. It is important, as well as in the disinfection of the equipment, to contemplate cleaning and basic maintenance in the areas of the kitchen where food is kept and prepared. Likewise, if required, try to use chemical products that help you maintain and control pests.

Always try to wash your hands well with soap and water before preparing a meal.  Proper washing reduces the risk of spreading disease. To do so remember below kitchen safety tips:

1. Wash them thoroughly with soap and hot water after handling food and before performing the next work function.
2. Always dry your hands with a clean towel.
3. In addition to this, your hair can also carry germs, so keep it up and wear a hairnet.

Keep surfaces clean is one of the kitchen safety tips

Remember that proper cleaning and disinfection of all contact surfaces and utensils is essential, according to food hygiene experts, whether in your home or restaurant. Because food residue can often get caught in places like counter crevices and between the tines of forks.

Unsanitary facilities and equipment can be a source of propagation of organisms that are harmful to food and people’s health. In the case of cockroaches, flies, mice and other pests, they can spread diseases by contaminating food, equipment, utensils and others in the kitchen area.

Personal hygiene measures- kitchen safety tips

Anyone who cooks or serves food must comply with strict personal hygiene measures, as they may carry pathogens involved in food poisoning. Microorganisms can be transferred from hands to food. Hands should be washed thoroughly with soap and hot water after handling food and before performing the next task. Always dry your hands with a clean towel. Hair can carry germs too, so keep it tied back and wear a hair net.

• It is crucially important to wash your hands thoroughly with the appropriate frequency (after going to the bathroom, eating, smoking, touching dirty surfaces or garbage, touching raw food, sneezing, etc.) and with soap and hot water. Rinse well and dry with paper.
• Clothing and footwear must be exclusively for work use. You must incorporate a cap that prevents hair loss.
• In the case of using gloves, it must be taken into account that they also become contaminated and that they must be changed frequently. They should be hypoallergenic.
• In case of wounds, they should be covered with coloured waterproof bandages so that they are easily detected and do not reach our diner.
• During work performance, personal items such as earrings, bracelets, and piercings… must be removed to avoid contaminating the product.
• Unhygienic practices such as eating or coughing on food must be avoided at all times.
• You should never chew gum or smoke when you are making culinary preparations.
• Avoid testing food with your finger.
• Clothing can carry germs from the outside into the kitchen, so it’s important to change into work clothes. This should be light in colour so that the stains are immediately visible.

In case of suffering from a foodborne illness (for example, gastrointestinal disorders), refrain from cooking, to avoid transmitting these viruses or bacteria to food.

Kitchen safety for kids

It’s a matter of statistics, 70% of child accidents at home happen in the kitchen. A space full of risks for children, but also with a special attraction, where food, oven or microwave lights, the contents of cupboards and drawers, etc., become a source of stimuli and the perfect place to satisfy the appetite and childish curiosity.

It is also in the kitchen where mom and dad spend many hours, and our little ones, who appreciate our company very much, are constantly following us. Recommendations and preventive measures to avoid child accidents in the kitchen are:

1. Acquire prevention habits by cooking on the interior fires, with handles that protrude over the edge to prevent children from reaching them or accidentally hitting them and falling on top of the child or us.
2. Do not transport or transfer hot liquids and solids if the child is in the kitchen independently, we can stumble and throw it on him.
3. To prevent falls, floors must be dry, and free of grease and water. Do not use polishes that encourage slipping. If you have carpets, make the base non-slip.
4. Do not take hot food or drinks with the baby in your arms, a small movement could cause it to fall on him.
5. Protect the controls of the kitchen and oven (especially if it is gas), as well as the fires with specific protectors for controls, grids or kitchen protective barriers.
6. To avoid burns with the oven and microwave, protect and block the door. Do not let the child into the kitchen unsupervised if the oven is in operation or has not yet given off all the heat when finished using it.
7. Appliances such as dishwashers, refrigerators or freezers contain risky products and elements. Install specific child safety locks.
8. Cabinets and drawers that contain knives, glasses, and small appliances such as blenders or choppers, within the child’s reach, must be locked to prevent access and manipulation. It also locks the drawers that do not incorporate a stop at the end of the guide and the drawer and content can be thrown on top.
9. Unplug and store small appliances out of the child’s reach and sight after use.
10. Children have their resources, they learn to quickly climb and drag equipment to reach their goal, so don’t trust that they don’t reach the tall cabinets, because if something catches their attention they will try to reach it.

If your kitchen is a small space where the child shouldn’t be there while we are cooking, we recommend that until the child becomes more aware of the risk, you install a child safety barrier on the door.

How do you manage kitchen burns?

Who has not ever suffered a small incident at home? From a cut to a blow or a slight fall, no one is exempt from suffering them. Those burns are among the main causes of domestic accidents. Whether it is from inadvertent contact with the oven or pan or splashing oils, the risk of burns affects everyone, although children under 10 years of age, the elderly and middle-aged women are the groups most at risk.

The first because their skin is especially sensitive and their curiosity can lead them to touch objects at high temperatures, the second because they are the ones who suffer the most mistakes, while in the case of women because, even today, they are the ones who spend more hours between stoves and oven.

Assess the risk of kitchen burn

Factors to take into account are the degree, the affected area, the exposure time, age and skin diseases. Suffering a burn is much easier than you think. For this reason, we explain how to correctly assess the extent of the injury and what steps you must follow so that it does not worsen. To understand the scope of the accident, it is enough to refer to the classic division into first, second and third degrees:

1. First-degree burns: affect only the surface of the skin, which becomes red and slightly inflamed. Itching and some pain usually occur. In general, they resolve without leaving scars.
2. Second Degree Burns: Affect both the outer layer of the skin and the underlying layer. They cause pain, redness, swelling, and blisters. Running and cool water has the double objective of reducing the temperature, and limiting the harmful activity of heat, while at the same time reducing pain.
3. Third Degree Burns – Also known as full-thickness burns. They destroy the outer layer of skin (epidermis) as well as the bottom layer (dermis).

Other fundamental evaluation factors are the area (the face, neck, hands, feet and genitals are the most dangerous areas), the exposure time to the agent that caused the burn, age (the same burn is more severe in children and the elderly), and the extent of the injury and skin diseases that the victim may have previously suffered.

First aid for kitchen burn

Injuries can vary between the three degrees. In either case, the main action to take is to cool the burn with cool running water for ten minutes or more. This simple action has the double objective of reducing the temperature and limiting the harmful activity of the heat while reducing the pain. It is also very important not to resort to ice as a remedy.

If the victim is wearing rings, bracelets or clothing close to the burn, these should be removed. If, on the contrary, such items are found stuck to the skin by the incident, they should be left untouched. It is especially important not to leave the lesion exposed, and cover it with a clean, dry dressing (in the pharmacy there are products specially designed for this purpose) without applying any type of ointment until the real damage is assessed.

In the first hours, it is advisable to apply an antibacterial ointment such as silver sulfadiazine with or without hyaluronic acid. Superficial lesions tend to heal faster and better if they are in humid environments, for this reason, paraffin gauze can be very useful”.

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When to go to the doctor

If the burn is of the 2nd degree and blisters appear, should be treated with sterile material from competent health personnel. If there are doubts and the affected areas are the hands, face, feet or genitals, it is best in these cases to go to a medical centre.

Pass an onion over the blisters, use a cold raw potato to relieve pain, apply banana skins or egg whites, and spread honey to use its emollient and antibacterial properties. All these remedies lack scientific evidence. Some, based on fatty substances, could even be counterproductive since they apply a kind of insulating film on the burn that prevents the diffusion of heat that continues to exert its damaging action on the tissues.

What is kitchen fire safety?

In the kitchen, you should follow kitchen safety tips. You never have to let your guard down in the kitchen. Leaving what is cooking unattended can lead to a fatal outcome. When you leave the house, you should not leave pots or pans on the fire, or electrical appliances running.

Housekeeping is basic to prevent fires. The extractor hood, the smoke outlets, the toaster or the cooking area must be free of grease. If the kitchen is gas, it is essential to periodically check the quality of the flame. It must be stable, bluish and silent. If not, you will have to call the technical service to check it. The match must be lit before opening the gas stopcock.

In the event of a gas leak, do not touch the light switches under any circumstances. Let alone light a match. It is advisable to open the windows to ventilate as much as possible and notify the maintenance service. As a preventive measure, it is advisable to have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen to help prevent a greater evil, as well as home insurance with a fire guarantee.

What if there has already been a fire?

If, despite everything, we find ourselves involved in a fire, the first thing to do is not to lose calm and act quickly according to the following steps:

1. Turn off the electrical current, the gas input and, if possible, the heat source.
2. Remove flammable products that are close to the flames.
3. If the fire is small, try to put it out with a fire extinguisher or a fire blanket. Never with water, as electrical installations or flammable liquids (such as oil from a frying pan) could be reached, making the disaster even greater. When you are about to put it out, stand between the fire and the escape route so as not to risk being trapped.
4. If the magnitude or situation of the fire is such that it is difficult to put it out, it is better not to try. Flee the area, closing the door first to hinder the spread of the fire. If necessary, go out on all fours to avoid breathing in the toxic smoke (it tends to concentrate in high areas).
5. From a safe place, call the emergency services.
6. When escaping, do not use the elevators in the building. If the stairs are full of smoke, it is preferable to stay in the house. In this case, you should lock yourself in a room, covering the cracks in the door with wet rags and, from the window, make signals so that the emergency services can see you.
7. If your clothing catches fire, lie down on the floor, roll over and cover the affected person with a large blanket, pressing down hard until the flames are out. If it is the hair that catches fire, it is best to cover the head with a damp cloth.

Conclusion

Kitchen safety is essential when preparing and cooking food, whether in restaurants, at home, or anywhere you prepare it. Keeping cleanliness in mind and understanding the hazards involved can help you avoid accidents and illnesses resulting from hygiene in food preparation. Some guidelines that you should keep in mind for this will be:

1. Proper personal hygiene, including frequent hand and arm washing.
2. Proper cleaning and sanitizing of all food contact surfaces and utensils, as well as food equipment.
3. Good maintenance and basic cleanliness of the place.
4. Storing food at the proper time and safe temperatures.
5. Have a fire extinguisher in your kitchen. This will come in handy if a fire breaks out.
6. Keep a first-aid kit in your kitchen. This will come in handy if someone is injured in a kitchen accident.
7. Have a plan for what to do in case of a fire. This will help you stay calm and make sure everyone is safe.

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