Does OSHA Apply to Restaurants?
Let me cut to the chase.
Does OSHA apply to restaurants?
In most cases, yes.
Most private-sector restaurant employers and their employees are covered by workplace safety and health requirements administered either by Federal OSHA or an OSHA-approved State Plan.
Are there exceptions?
Yes.
But restaurant operators should understand what actually applies to their operation rather than simply assuming they are exempt.
How Does OSHA Apply to Restaurants?
Restaurants are workplaces.
Employees work around hot cooking equipment, knives, machinery, chemicals, electrical equipment, wet floors, steam, hot liquids, heavy objects and numerous other potential hazards.
OSHA requirements may address many aspects of those working conditions.
Depending on the restaurant and the particular hazard, OSHA requirements may involve:
- Walking-working surfaces
- Personal protective equipment
- Hazard communication
- Electrical safety
- Machine guarding
- Sanitation
- Employee training
- Recordkeeping
- Emergency procedures
- Other workplace safety and health requirements
Restaurants generally fall within OSHA’s General Industry category.
However, not every OSHA standard applies to every restaurant or every situation.
The particular workplace, operation, equipment and hazard matter.
Does Every Restaurant Have to Follow Federal OSHA?
Not necessarily.
Federal OSHA covers most private-sector employers and workers. However, some workers and workplaces fall outside direct Federal OSHA jurisdiction.
In addition, many states and U.S. territories operate OSHA-approved State Plans.
These programs must be at least as effective as Federal OSHA, although individual requirements can differ.
That’s why the better question isn’t simply:
“Does OSHA apply?”
The better questions are:
Which workplace safety requirements apply, and what did the restaurant do about them?
Who Is Responsible for OSHA Compliance?
Restaurant employers have significant responsibilities under the OSH Act.
Employers must comply with applicable OSHA standards and provide employees with a workplace free from serious recognized hazards as required by the OSH Act.
Employees also have responsibilities.
Workers are expected to comply with applicable occupational safety and health standards and with the rules and procedures established for their own conduct.
From the dishwasher to the general manager, workplace safety requires participation.
And yes, that includes the biggest big shot at the big, big corporate office of bigness.
Job title does not make workplace hazards disappear.
Does OSHA Only Apply to Workers?
This is where an important distinction needs to be made.
OSHA’s statutory mission is workplace safety and health.
Its protections and employer obligations are primarily directed toward employees, not restaurant customers.
Therefore, OSHA should not automatically be presented as establishing a legal duty owed to a restaurant customer.
But that doesn’t mean OSHA becomes irrelevant simply because the injured person was a customer.
Can OSHA Be Relevant to a Customer Restaurant Case?
Potentially.
Imagine a restaurant condition involving both employees and customers.
A slippery floor may be crossed by servers and customers.
Hot beverage equipment may be operated by employees before the beverage reaches a customer.
Restaurant employees may handle equipment, chemicals, food, hot liquids and other hazards in areas that ultimately affect restaurant operations.
This is where Howard’s original “shared space” idea becomes important.
Employees and customers frequently occupy or move through the same restaurant environment.
Therefore, evidence concerning employee training, workplace procedures, hazard recognition and restaurant operations may provide useful information when analyzing how a particular condition was managed.
However, that is different from saying OSHA directly protects every customer or that an OSHA violation automatically establishes liability in a customer injury case.
OSHA and Restaurant Industry Standards Are Different
Another important distinction is the difference between OSHA requirements and restaurant industry standards.
They are not interchangeable.
An OSHA regulation is a regulatory requirement.
A restaurant industry standard or customary practice may come from industry experience, established operating procedures, manufacturer instructions, consensus standards, training materials, professional organizations and other sources.
Sometimes those sources address similar hazards.
That does not make them legally identical.
In restaurant litigation, the source of a standard matters.
OSHA Compliance and Restaurant Safety
Restaurant safety doesn’t belong to one employee.
Owners establish systems.
Executives develop policies.
Managers implement procedures.
Supervisors monitor employees.
Employees perform the work.
Each level can affect what actually happens inside the restaurant.
That’s why restaurant safety needs to exist beyond the employee handbook.
It needs to exist on the floor.
What’s Good for the Worker Can Be Good for the Customer
There is still an important practical point behind Howard’s original saying:
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”
A workplace practice designed to reduce spills, improve equipment safety, train employees or identify dangerous conditions may also make the restaurant environment safer for other people.
But when analyzing litigation, we need to keep the terminology precise.
OSHA protects workers.
Restaurant industry practices can address employees and customers.
Premises-safety obligations are determined under applicable law.
And an expert should explain restaurant operations and applicable industry standards without deciding the ultimate legal question for the court.
Got a Restaurant Case?
When OSHA, employee training, restaurant procedures or industry standards become relevant to restaurant litigation, understanding the distinction between them matters.
Restaurant Expert Witness – Howard Cannon provides restaurant industry analysis, expert opinions, reports, testimony and litigation support for attorneys representing plaintiffs and defendants.
Got a restaurant case?
Call Restaurant Expert Witness today:
800.300.5764