The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 places a general duty on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their workers and anyone else affected by the business, including guests and contractors. Employees have duties too, to take reasonable care and cooperate. Supporting regulations require risk assessments, which must be written down once you have five or more employees.
Hospitality hazards are well known: slips on wet floors, burns and scalds, knife cuts, manual handling of kegs and deliveries, heat stress on the line, gas appliances, and carbon dioxide build-up in cellars from dispense gas. Controls include training, suitable footwear and PPE, safe systems of work, maintained equipment and gas safety checks. An accident book should be kept, and certain injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences must be reported under RIDDOR. In most hospitality premises enforcement is carried out by the local authority rather than the Health and Safety Executive.
What we ask on the show
- What's the most common injury in your kitchen, and how have you reduced it?
- How do you make risk assessments living documents rather than paperwork?
- Who teaches new starters about cellar gas safety?
- Does hospitality take heat and fatigue seriously enough?