High Risk: Workplace Safety in the Franchised Food and Beverage sector
The Problem for Food and Beverage Businesses...
Safe Work Australia recently stated that the incidence rate for the food services industry is 38% higher than the average rate for the Australian workforce, with a rate of 58.6 per 1,000 workers having a serious incident in the workplace every year.
For those whom operate in this sector, that statistic is probably no surprise, given the working environment is typically busy, dynamic with a customer focussed, responsive mindset.
This article looks to list the reasons why workers in the food and beverage sector are more likely to suffer workplace injuries, and what may be done to reduce this statistic.
Risks
Let's look at a few reasons why there is a higher rate of workplace incidents in the food and beverage sector.
According to Safe Work NSW the following are the top hazards for the food service industry:
- manual handling
- slips, trips and falls
- burns and cuts
- customer and/or client violence.
Reasons
These hazards relate closely to the following factors, whilst although not necessarily unique to food and beverage, are key factors in most businesses in this sector:
Extreme Environmental factors: Back of house is both a 'hot' working environment - the kitchen, and a 'cold' environment - the cool room. Constant exposure to one or both can lead workers to feeling fatigued, and can temporarily break down parts of the immune system.
Equipment and Machinery: Working kitchens with sharp knives, moving machinery, doors opening and closing.
Fatigue: Shift work and exposure to a 'hot' and 'cold' working environment can lead to fatigue
Transient workforce: A small food and beverage business would typically have only a handful of permanent staff. A reliance on casual staff can lead to high turnover, low uptake and outcomes on training delivery and a possibly a lower adherence to policy, particularly as it relates to health and safety.
Over reliance on 'Traning': Training is 'key'. That statement goes without saying, but there are many examples of where - and in the franchised food and beverage industry in particular - head office may over-rely on training at the expense of key systems. If you don't have a robust health and safety system in place, endorsed by Franchisor and tracked by them, what's the point of training?
Customers: The moving, demanding, and ever changing variable in every food and beverage business. The unpredictable nature of dealing with members of the public can lead to a higher risk of a number of hazards to staff.
Potential Solutions
So now we've identified some of the key issues and hazards relating to the sector, let's now examine some potential solutions.
Workplace Inspections to Identify all hazards and risks: A regular workplace inspection schedule should be in place at any rate, but a comprehensive 'audit' of all hazards and risks, with the involvement of staff is a must. Once all hazards have been identified, the business should assess the risk of each and put a risk register in place, with an action plan.
A safety system: A safe system of work, including policies and procedures, a training plan, and a risk management system gives a structure to allow the identification and resolution of hazards to be quicker, more transparent, and less costly.
Training: With a particular focus on manual handling and customer relations.
Subscribe to Industry publications and join industry groups: Some of these include:
- Australian Hotels Association
- Australian Retailers Association
- Restaurant and Catering Industry Association
- Franchise Council of Australia
- Safe Work Australia
Summary
For those of us whom work in the food and beverage sector, the benefits can be tremendous, including a high energy working environment, the social benefits, and (possibly) discounted food and drink.
But the statistics don't lie and they suggest this sector is one of the more higher risk workplaces to work in.
Whilst this article outlines some of the key hazards and some proposed solutions to decrease the risk of an incident occuring in the workplace, one key point needs to be stated here; the Franchisor and Franchisee must have an open line of communication to discuss and resolve health and safety issues.
Unfortunatley, there are some Franchisors whom believe health and safety commitment in the organisation starts and stops at 'training', but training is not even half of the total solution. The Franchisor and Franchisee must commit together by identifying hazards, documenting policies related to health and safety, and using a system to capture issues and their resolutions. By doing this, the risks relating to working in the food and beverage sector will certainly decrease.
About the Author
Chris Beasley is Managing Director of Safety Navigator, a cloud based WHS system with over 10,000 Australian and New Zealand business customers, many of whom are Franchise Organisations
