Risk Assessment for Restaurants and Kitchens

Risk management requirements vary hugely by industry, and even within an industry, there are differences in every workplace. Site-specific risk assessments are ideal for establishing in detail how to protect your employees, your customers, and ultimately your business.

The Food Hygiene Regulations (2006) stipulate that all food businesses must operate safely and hygienically. Here, we explore important risk management areas that help restaurants and kitchens to comply with these regulations — and the other risks beyond food safety that restaurants must consider.

Identifying Potential Hazards in Restaurants and Kitchens

Identifying potential hazards is the first step in your risk assessment. Consider all your business operations, and highlight anything that could potentially be problematic to patrons and staff. Food safety is critical in restaurant risk management, as the fallout from food poisoning can be detrimental to your business; not just for your reputation but also financially, through refunds, loss of custom and potential fines and prosecution. Consider all the points at which food safety is a hazard, including adequate storage, a hygienic preparation environment and safe cooking measures.

Food safety is not your only potential hazard when doing a risk assessment for your kitchen or restaurant. Conduct a full walkthrough of the kitchen service area and stockroom noting anything that could pose a risk. Risks may include shelving and sink heights, poor ventilation, and unsafe storage solutions.

Who Might Be Harmed, and How?

Your customers are a large group that you need to consider when carrying out your risk assessment. Whether you’re a food van or a restaurant with 100 covers, you’re liable if diners get ill from negligence on your part.

Your staff are also at risk, though it may be easier to control the risk for this group through training. Cross-contamination of foods, correct storage of foods, manual handling when lifting or loading stock, all pose risks. The associated action for these risks would be employee training in food hygiene measures and manual handling training for all staff, to highlight just a few. Machinery, gas and electrical appliances are all areas where you must be thorough in your risk management. This includes daily instructions such as portable appliance testing, turning off at the mains or daily cleaning — and what to do if equipment needs repairing.

How Are You Currently Managing Risks?

Again, your current training is a good place to start. In a kitchen environment, you want to consider if your staff are adequately trained for handling knives or other work equipment, and also consult your accident book to pre-empt any risks that could stem from similar issues.

It’s likely your staff are using chemicals for cleaning, so your restaurant risk management should include information regarding the Control of Substances Harmful to Health (COSHH), the safe use and storage of chemicals and the provision of protective equipment like gloves to mitigate risk. If you are already ensuring staff wear appropriate uniform and footwear, this is an existing control measure that will reduce the chances of burns, slips and trips and other injuries.

Further Action Needed to Control Risks

Some risk assessment actions will essentially involve the daily upkeep of your standards. For example, identifying slips and trips as risks is controlled by good housekeeping on the premises. This isn’t a one-off tick box, but a plan that you must maintain — so you are responsible for training your team and enforcing the standards you have highlighted as proven to control the risk. Some areas of your risk management will benefit temporarily from a quick fix, but others need a more permanent solution. Make sure you have detailed each stage of the actions so everyone can monitor the risk assessment.

Person(s) Responsible for Carrying Out the Actions

Making your risk assessment available to all staff is a great way to involve them in the smooth running of your business. Including restaurant risk management as part of staff training, helps your team understand why certain processes are in place, and also the importance of revisiting the risk assessment often. It’s useful to include your staff in the process, but don’t task a member of the team with a risk assessment action unless you’re completely confident they can eliminate or reduce that risk.

For some actions, you may need to hire a professional, especially those relating to equipment. If that is a part of your risk assessment protocol, make sure your team knows in what circumstances they should not be using machinery or appliances and make everyone aware only a competent professional should be handling or fixing equipment. You should also conduct daily checks for maintenance purposes.

Having a culture of accountability and communication will help reduce the risks in your restaurant. If your staff know that when they spot damage or faults, they should report them — and more importantly, who to report them to — things won’t be a problem for long. The more eyes you have on potential hazards, the more reactive you can be to ensure a safe workplace. Workplaces with a staff of five or more must record the findings of the risk assessment and make this readily available for staff.

Deadline for Risk Management Actions

In food safety, in particular, there are pressing issues that will require instant attention. Though the above doesn’t include ranking risks by priority, based on the information you collect at each point, you should evaluate further to gauge what needs prioritising. Check-in often on actions and make sure all your staff know what they’re responsible for. Incorporate risk management into the general routines of your restaurant so high standards are maintained and you have a better chance of preventing risks.

You may want to consult the Food Standards Agency for more specific advice on your restaurant or kitchen offering.

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