Let me cut to the chase.
Every single restaurant, bar, food and beverage industry owner, manager, executive, employer, employee, organization and business across the United States and her territories must comply with OSHA.
Are there exceptions? Yes – but very few!
It’s easier for a restaurant to just comply rather than attempt to skirt around it and see if it can become the rare exception. Even in the rare instances when OSHA says that it’s ok for businesses to not comply – the restaurant and bar industry that we conduct our operations in – has standards and standards of care. And those standards and standards of care of our industry say that they must comply.
The restaurant, bar, food and beverage industry still demands that all choosing to do business in this industry comply with OSHA because professional associations, trainers, risk managers, consultants and experts say that OSHA makes the people, the premises and the customers safer. Therefore, they all must comply with OSHA, and it has been like that for decades. The industry participants hold an even higher standard. I will talk about the reasons behind all of that later.
Any and all restaurant owners and employees at any level, any title and any pay grade – whether they are working for free or getting paid tens of millions of dollars annually – must comply with OSHA and the industry standards for safety, health and security. This is also the case whether they are operating one restaurant location, hundreds of restaurant locations or even thousands or tens of thousands.
Whether they are the lowest man in the chain of command or the biggest big shot at the big, big corporate office of bigness, they are all required to abide by the standards, guidelines, rules and regulations contained within the OSH Act; and are all expected to create and maintain a safe, healthy and secure premises for all employees, all customers, all vendors and all others who enter the premises that are under their purview of responsibility.
Does OSHA Only Apply to Workers?
The short answer is: No. OSHA does not apply only to workers. OSHA applies to everyone that is in the worker’s workspace.
Employers and employees have to comply with OSHA and therefore the training is directed at the employers, employees and workers. Besides, the last time I checked, the restaurant industry doesn’t really get to train customers – but if a customer gets injured on the subject premises, the scrutiny will be on the owner, management, and their employees as to whether or not they were complying with OSHA.
I know this may be a bit of a surprise, but OSHA speaks a great deal about the safety of the general public, the safety of customers, and the safety of all others who enter the working premises. But the restaurant industry goes beyond that as restaurants offer a unique set of circumstances referred to as “shared space” or “common areas.” Therefore, OSHA compliance impacts everyone entering restaurant premises even more than it does most other industries.
In other words, “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” And in this case, “what’s good for the worker is good for the customer.”
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