When working in a restaurant, it is important to follow safety procedures to prevent burns, slips, falls and foodborne illness. Proper safety attire such as closed shoes and avoiding clutter are recommended. Burn prevention includes using the proper equipment, opening appliances away from the body, and assuming anything on the stove is hot. Food safety involves proper handwashing, cooking foods to the correct internal temperatures, safe defrosting and storage of perishable foods. Following regulations from the FDA and proper cleaning and sanitation techniques helps keep customers safe.

1. Restaurant Training

2. When working in a restaurant you are expected
to know key principles in order to keep
customers safe. This means being aware of
culinary techniques, sanitation principles and
how to use kitchen equipment

3. Basics to workplace safety

4. Proper Workplace attire
● Closed shoes
● Non-slip and waterproof footwear
● Long sleeves
● Long Pants
These will eliminate exposure to heat
and oil

5. Kitchens may sometimes
have water, oil or food on the
ground. Be aware and keep
the area clean to prevent falls
or injury.

6. Preventing Slips and Falls
1. Never run in the kitchen
2. Eliminate clutter and clean up after
yourself
3. Never store oil or other items on the floor

7. Awareness and Prevention
When working in a kitchen you can be
exposed to:
● Heat Hazards
● Hazardous machinery
● Dangerous tools or equipment

8. Burn Prevention

9. Burn Prevention - Using Equipment
● Using proper equipment such as
tongs and oven mitts to remove hot
items from pasta boilers or steamers
● Use a tray to carry items across a
kitchen that may drip, preventing

10. Burn Prevention - Opening Equipment
● When opening an oven or dishwasher step to the
side
● Do not reach or stand above steaming items
● Do not open cookers that are under pressure.
● Uncover pots or hot items by opening away from you

11. Burn Prevention - Additional Pointers
● Assume that anything, such as pots and pans, on a
stove is hot and should be handled with oven mitts
or gloves.
● Keep burners at a level so that the flame is covered
by the pan
● Clean vents in the morning before a grill gets hot

12. Burn Prevention - Additional Pointers
● Keep handles out of the way in the kitchen
● Avoid overfilling any pans
● Do not leave hot oil unattended
● Do not use wet clothes to lift lids or hot pots
● Do not lean pots or pans over when they have boiling

13. Grease Fire
Can be prevented by emptying grease traps, cleaning
grill surfaces and not using appliances that have frayed
cords or keeping flammable equipment near open
flames.
- Extinguish with a class K fire extinguisher
- NEVER carry oil that is on fire
- NEVER throw water on a grease fire

14. Electrical Hazards
There are a lot of electrical kitchen
equipment. Electrical sources near water
should be properly grounded.

15. Hazardous Machinery
● Machine guarding is important to
remember to eliminate or control hazards.
● Machine parts have the potential to cause
several workplace injuries including
crushed hands.

16. Clean up Safety
● Do not attempt to unload dishes from a dishwasher
until they have cooled
● Avoid steam
● Test water temperature before submerging your
hand.
● Be careful of and guard continuous feed dishwashers
to prevent scal

17. Food Prep Safety
● Handle and store knives safely
● Cut away from you and keep hand and fingers out of
the way
● Do not attempt to catch a knife if it is falling
● Don’t leave knives near a countertop edge

18. FDA
The Food and Drug Administration makes
recommendations for regulations in the food
service industry.

19. Food Prep Safety - Hand washing
Hand washing must happen all the time when handling
food. Before and after handling raw meat. Proper hand
washing means under running water for 20 seconds
and drying with a clean, disposable paper towel.

20. When to wash your hands?
1. When you arrive
2. Before you touch raw food
3. After you touch raw food
4. Before doing any cooking
5. Before you put on gloves
….Basically, all the time.

21. Perishable Food
● Perishable food is defined as anything such as meat,
poultry and seafood that will spoil if not refrigerated
properly
● The food has to go through a “kill stage” of cooking
where any harmful bacteria present is killed off to
make the food safe to eat.

22. Food Safe Internal Temperature
Steak and Roast 145°F
Fish 145°F
Pork 160°F
Ground Beef 160°F
Egg Dishes 160°F
Chicken Breasts 165°F
Whole Poultry 165°F
Casseroles/Mixed Dishes 165°F

23. Safe Defrosting Methods
1. Refrigerator (Must be 40 degrees or lower)
2. Cold water thawing
3. Microwave thawing
Thawing through other methods will cause meat to be in
the danger zone for too long.

24. Danger Zone + Bacteria
Bacteria multiplies in warm, moist temperatures.
Perishable food between 40 and 140℉ is at risk and
staying in this environment for longer than 2 hours will
mean there is too much bacteria and the food will have
to be thrown out.
Properly washing and keeping perishable food is
important to prevent salmonella infection.

25. Keeping prepared food
Food kept in a buffet should be maintained at a
minimum of 135 ℉.
Cooked perishable foods can last in a refrigerator up to
1 week, uncooked perishables such as meat and poultry
shouldn’t stay refrigerated for longer than 2 days.

26. Cleaning cookware and cutlery
Clean cutting boards and other utensils used to prepare
raw meat with hot, soapy water. You can dilute bleach in
water
1 teaspoon of unscented bleach
+
1 quart of water