Measures that are reasonable and customary throughout the restaurant industry in an effort to prevent and, at the very least, minimize burns and scalds include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Establish written safety and best practices, policies and procedures, including those pertaining to the hazards associated with hot liquids, foods, surfaces, furniture, fixtures, equipment, tools and facility; and how to safely work with cooking and heating equipment.
- Implement and train these established safety practices, policies and procedures to restaurant employees on a continual and ongoing basis.
- Provide training, labels and warnings in other languages for non-English speaking employees.
- Perform routine job hazard analyses and worksite hazard assessments.
- Train all employees to recognize and identify potential hazards and dangerous conditions, including those relating to incidents involving scalds and burns.
- Maintain and enforce adequate workspace, workflow and traffic patterns around cooking and heating devices.
- Ground all electrical equipment, including all small appliances, such as blenders and coffee makers.
- Practice good housekeeping, keep floors clean of spills, liquids and other debris which may result in a slip, trip or fall. Again, slips, trips and falls are the primary cause for almost a third of all restaurant scalds and burns.
- Wear long sleeves and long pants made of cotton when cooking — a clean, dry, properly worn apron or uniform can protect you from burns and hot oil splashes.
- Always assume that coffee pots, coffee makers, and coffee pot warming surfaces are hot; and use oven mitts when handling them.
- Provide wooden utensils to prevent burns.
- Use non-slip matting and non-skid waxes on floors to avoid spills resulting from slip and falls.
- Cover floors with grit, especially in areas where cooking oils and other liquids may spill.
- Avoid steam — open coffee lids away from you.
- Insulate exposed steam and hot water lines from coffee machines and containers.
- Avoid overfilling pots and pans.
- Use caution when preparing hot drinks or using machines that dispense hot liquids. Don’t stick your hands into areas where hot coffee or hot liquids are dispensed.
- Do not remove coffee pot until coffee maker has completed dispensing into the pot.
- Inspect and maintain equipment to make sure that lids fit tightly, and handles are safely secured on containers that might contain hot coffee, tea, food or liquids.
- Use trays to carry hot beverages, dishes and other items whenever possible.
- Use a waiter’s cloth, hot pad or oven mitt to protect your arms or hands when carrying hot items of any kind.
- Do not fill containers holding hot liquids or food over half full when transferring manually — use splash guards or secure lids and ask for help when needed.
- Use hot pads, potholders, gloves and/or mitts whenever possible — make sure they are appropriately sized (for both the container and hands); never use wet towels to grab or hold hot items.
- Wear slip-resistant soles to avoid slipping or falling. Never wear open-toed shoes, sandals or boots.
- When transferring hot containers with a rolling cart, be sure the container is secure on the cart, so any sudden moves or stops will not allow the container to tip, spill or fall.
- Never allow pot handles or cooking utensils to stick out from counters or stove front and keep pot handles away from burners.
- Instructions and safety manuals should be readily available and accessible by all employees at all times should someone require further information.
- Receive basic first aid training for treatment of burns.
- Have at least one employee on each shift trained in first aid for burn treatment and instruct them to seek medical treatment and call 911 if necessary.
- Check and maintain cooking and heating equipment on a regular basis and repair them regularly.
- Learn to use equipment and PPE properly and safely
- Place hot steamed items on trays to carry, rather than carrying steamed containers across the floor, leaving a trail of dripping hot water that may cause slip and falls.
- Do not stand above steaming items or equipment.
- Remember hot air rises. Do not reach over an oven, steamer or coffee machine.
Live Emergency Burn Situations
Warning: The following are recommended practices for treating burn victims; however, varying degrees of burns require different types of treatment. If restaurant owners and/or management is not certain or do not know what degree of burn the victim has experienced, they should proceed with caution. The first rule of thumb is to not immerse the burn in cool/cold water, as doing so for major burns can result in shock.
Major Burns – second or third-degree burns over large surfaces of the body. Second-degree burns involve redness, swelling and blistering; and damage may extend to deeper skin layers. Third-degree burns destroy the entire depth of the skin — death can occur in severe cases.
If a major burn does occur, restaurant employees should call 911 for emergency medical assistance. Until an emergency unit arrives, employees should follow these steps:
- If burns cover an area equal to an arm or leg, keep the victim lying down.
- Do not immerse large severe burns in cold water — doing so could cause shock.
- Watch the person carefully for difficulty with breathing.
- Do not allow the victim to drink anything.
- Elevate the burned body part or parts; raise burned body part(s) above heart level when possible.
- Keep victim warm to help avoid shock.
Minor Burns – first or second-degree burns that cover only a small part of the body. First-degree burns cause redness and swelling in the outermost layers of skin; and second-degree burns involve redness, swelling and blistering, and damage may extend to deeper skin layers):
- Remove any clothing where hot liquid has spilled.
- Cool the burn; hold the burned area under cool running water for at least five minutes or until the pain subsides; if this is impractical, submerge the burn in cool water — in a second degree burn, heat remains trapped in sub-dermal layers which can cause blistering; running cool water over the burned area for at least 5 minutes helps to cool the skin and can help to reduce or prevent blistering. Blistering can lead to painful and easily infected open sores.
- Cover the burn with a dry sterile gauze bandage; wrap the bandage loosely to avoid putting pressure on burned skin; bandaging keeps air off the burned skin, reduces pain and protects blistered skin.
- Call a physician immediately if any sign of infection occurs, such as increased pain, redness, or fever.
For all burns:
- Put out any flames and remove any restrictive jewelry or clothing.
- Check that the airway of the victim is open, that the person is breathing and that there are signs of circulation.
- Do not use ice; putting ice directly on a burn can cause even more damage.
- Do not apply butter, burn gels, creams, or lotions; these can prevent proper healing.
- Do not break blisters; broken blisters can increase the chances of infection.
- If the person has slipped, tripped or fallen, be aware that he/she may have injuries in addition to the burn; try to keep them in one place to prevent worsening other possible injuries.
In addition to tremendous pain and suffering, burn injuries to restaurant employees can result in large losses of time and money. It is a restaurant employer’s duty to “make sure employees have and use safe tools and equipment and properly maintain this equipment,” and the employers “must provide safety training in a language and vocabulary workers can understand.”(OSHA.gov, 2023).
It is OSHA and restaurant industry standard for restaurant employers (owners, operators, managers, etc.) to have established written safe handling policies, practices and procedures that are continually trained to restaurant employees on how to safely and properly use all equipment and tools for their intended purposes in a best effort to prevent scalds and burn injuries.
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