Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security: The Book of Restaurant Industry Standards & Best Practices

By Howard Cannon and Shirley Walters

No one heads to work at the restaurant down the street expecting to get maimed by a piece of kitchen equipment. No one takes family and friends out for dinner planning to spend the night in the emergency room waiting to hear whether the surgeon can reattach their child’s fingers. And, no one goes to any restaurant expectin

• Language: English
• Publisher: ROSSI, Inc
• Release date: Jan 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9781945614033

Howard Cannon

Howard Cannon is the world's most sought after forensic restaurant expert witness, with more than 150 cases and several hundred pre-litigation consulting matters to his credit. He is called on by judges, juries, plaintiffs and defense lawyers, members of the media, and industry executives to provide his unbiased opinions pertaining to an astonishing variety of incidents where employees, customers, and vendors become injured, harmed, sickened, maimed or killed on the premises of restaurants across the United States.

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INTRODUCTION

No one heads to work at the restaurant down the street from their home expecting to get maimed by a piece of kitchen equipment. No one takes family and friends out for dinner planning to spend the night in the emergency room waiting to hear whether the surgeon can reattach their child’s fingers.

And, no one goes to any restaurant expecting to Eat Lunch and Die!

Unfortunately, however, these things happen each and every day—many times a day—in restaurants of all types and sizes all across America. In fact, every year, thousands of employees and customers die in America’s restaurants; and millions more are being injured, harmed, sickened, or maimed.

The facts speak for themselves; somewhere between four to ten people will die today in restaurants, another four to ten will die tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that; and, so on. Before this calendar year is out, thousands will be dead; literally tens of thousands will be severely injured, harmed, and maimed; and millions more (over 30 million, in fact—that’s well over 90,000 people a day) will become ill or sickened from ingesting restaurant foods and beverages that were either toxic and unsafe for human consumption or intentionally contaminated.

What is going on in America’s restaurants?

Well, the best answer we can give you is this: The restaurant industry—the industry that we dearly love and have spent our entire careers working in—is covered up with incompetence and management neglect. Many of those placed in charge of restaurant premises and restaurant employees lack dangerous condition awareness, safety and security training, and basic day-to-day operational education. Management oversight, in some instances, is nearly nonexistent; and, sadly, this cesspool of mediocrity and below-industry standard performance is putting us all at risk … . That’s what’s going on!

Make no mistake about it, restaurant-industry employees—at any level, regardless of compensation—do not wake up in the morning wanting to do a crappy job. It’s bad management that inspires them to do that and puts them in that position. With that being said, the alternative is also true. Great management oversight focused on meeting industry standards and consistent day-to-day operational execution leads to inspired employees wanting to do a great job.

Perhaps now is a good time for us to provide you with some basic statistics that will give you a better understanding of what it is that we’re talking about. We’ll start with the good, so you can get an idea of the enormity of the restaurant industry first and its impact on our society:

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There are more than one million restaurant industry establishments in the US accounting for more than 25 percent of all retail establishments in America.

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14.4 million restaurant-industry employees—accounting for more than 10 percent of the entire US workforce.

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$782 billion in annual sales—accounting for more than $2 billion in sales each day and a 47 percent share of the entire food dollar spent by families across the country.

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More than 1.7 million new restaurant industry jobs are expected over the next decade.

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Well over 150,000 vendors, suppliers, and product and service companies support the industry, adding millions of additional jobs to the workforce and billions of dollars to the US economy.

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The restaurant industry is still one of America’s greatest entrepreneurial opportunities and one of America’s most reliable economic engines—with more than 17,000 new restaurant startups every year from coast to coast.

Okay, now that you’ve had a chance to digest that information, we’ll hit you with the bad and the ugly of the industry—which will undoubtedly shock you!

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There are more than four million slips, trips, and falls in America’s restaurants each and every year—that includes employees and customers.

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68 percent (nearly 33 million annually) of all US food-borne illness cases come from eating in restaurants—3,000 of these cases result in someone dying. That’s right: Dead!

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33 percent of all Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) sexual harassment claims come from the restaurant industry.

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42 states have dram shop/alcohol server liability laws placing the onus and responsibility on bartenders, servers, managers, and owners to recognize visible intoxication and determine the right time to cut someone off, or whether someone is intoxicated to the point of being unsafe simply by looking at them.

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20 percent of binge drinkers (four to five drinks or more) drive drunk after leaving restaurants and bars.

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Millions of other employee and customer incidents/accidents happen in or revolve around America’s restaurants each year, including, but not limited to, significant numbers of:

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Rapes and assaults

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Bar fights and brawls

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Shootings and stabbings

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Alcohol-related accidents and fatalities

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Thefts and robberies—21 percent of all workplace robberies happen in restaurants and bars

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Burns and scalds—the highest incident rate of any industry

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Chemical exposures of various types and severities

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Cuts, sprains, strains, and loss of fingers, toes, and limbs—30 percent of all workplace accidents; costing more than $300 million annually

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Food allergy hospitalizations—more than 30,000 incidents annually, 150-200 deaths each and every year

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Countless food and beverage contaminations

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Tens of thousands of separate negligence and liability cases that lead to multi-million dollar lawsuits and insurance claims against America’s restaurant businesses and restaurant industry owners

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The high risk associated with both civil legal matters and criminal charges

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A high rate of business failures and bankruptcies

Government organizations are well aware of the statistics (the good, the bad, and the ugly) associated with the restaurant industry and the kinds of incidents that take place in restaurants each and every day; but rarely do they communicate them to the general public or to the restaurant industry participants themselves. No real method has been established to disseminate this information to the industry, the masses, or the media to inform, train, protect, or warn others—until now, that is, through the Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security Institute (ROSSI), including this book and its associated talk radio show, Eat Lunch and Die!

We love the restaurant industry—just like you and the majority of the US population; but we want—no, we demand—a higher level of performance as it pertains to safety, health, and security for all of us. Quite frankly, so should you.

From hands-on experience, we can tell you that the number of incidents occurring every year in restaurants all across America is truly mind-boggling and heartbreaking. These occurrences happen to employees, vendors, independent contractors, and customers from nearly every walk of life; and the truth is that the vast majority of these incidents are preventable.

These events change the lives of nearly everyone involved—from the person or persons harmed (victims), to the manager or owner responsible for the premises—in some instances, damaging them physically, mentally, and emotionally for years to come and, in many cases, leaving them scarred for the remainder of their lives. These incidents also impact the lives of those who are forced by pure happenstance to watch them take place—family members, other customers, other employees, and the like (witnesses).

Restaurants that are otherwise perfectly sound, reasonably viable, and substantially profitable businesses are having to close their doors from the overwhelmingly negative impact of the types of cases involving such matters as slips and falls, burns and cuts, rapes, murders, wrongful deaths, and other incidents that happen on their premises. Right now, at this very moment, many restaurateurs are dealing with serious court cases and overwhelming litigation matters, all the while watching their hopes and dreams of owning and operating a successful restaurant go up in smoke due to their complete lack of awareness of hazardous and dangerous conditions and the necessary training required to prevent these types of incidents from happening on their premises in the first place. Sadly, once these cases have been adjudicated—and in many instances well prior to the final ruling—the dreams of many will instead turn into life-altering nightmares of epic proportions—the likes from which they may never fully recover.

The statistics speak volumes. Unfortunately, it seems as though, if you are in the restaurant industry long enough, then one day you will most likely be served as well. No, we’re not referring to lunch or dinner; we’re talking about the likelihood that you will be served with a lawsuit or an insurance claim that could forever change the course of your business and the remainder of your life.

In the blink of an eye, when you least expect it, one single incident could result in you, your employees, and your business being liable for claims, damages, and attorney’s fees amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. All it takes is for one judge or jury to rule that you were not operating your restaurant to reasonable and customary industry standards or in compliance with the law, or that you were somehow derelict in your duties or negligent in your actions.

If an incident happens in your restaurant that results in an employee, customer, vendor, contractor, or other being injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed, you can bet that the lawyers will circle around you, your business, and your assets like ravenous crows. The judge, the jury, your customers, your employees, your vendors—and possibly even the media—will attempt to shine the light of mediocrity on those in charge; and, if you’re the restaurant owner, operator, employer, executive, or manager, then that means you! So the question has to be, Why would you make it any easier for them? If you haven’t been already, you need to start protecting your employees, your customers, your business, and your bank account by implementing everything you learn as it pertains to employee and customer safety, health, and security.

Make no mistake about it; the scrutiny will be harsh for everyone involved. The decision-makers will be picked at and scrutinized thoroughly, but so will the employees and the vendors involved. Your restaurant and how you operate it will be dissected in ways you never before imagined were possible. They will be looking for anything out of compliance and outside of the reasonable and customary industry standards that took place before, during, and even after little Suzy lost her fingers on the bottom of the chair she was sitting in while trying to eat her dinner in your dining room, or when Uncle Mike cracked his skull wide open on the slippery ceramic tiles on his way to your men’s room.

You may think we’re blowing this all out of proportion, but you don’t have to take our word for it. Do your own research. Google it; you’ll find thousands of examples all over the internet.

Many of these cases are much more than just your everyday, run-of-the-mill slip, trip, or fall, food-borne illness, or kitchen cut and burn. They include severed fingers, broken necks, crushed skulls, chemical ingestions, paralysis, contaminations leading to organ seizures and shutdowns, wrongful deaths, rapes, and murders; and they also involve armed robberies, brawls and bar fights, security breaches, building explosions, crimes against humanity, physical molestations, and, sadly, so much more.

Most of the cases that we’re referring to you’ve probably never heard about; and, for the most part, you probably never will unless something similar happens to one of your employees or customers in your restaurant or a restaurant nearby. We certainly hope that you never have to experience anything like them firsthand; however, we have—and we do—because it is our business to know about it.

What makes us truly different is that we also own and operate Restaurant Expert Witness—America’s most visible and prolific testifying and consulting forensic expert witness firm that deals with only restaurant and bar industry lawsuits, insurance claims, litigation, and pre-litigation matters. We speak from experience (probably like no others on the planet) with more than 150 cases and hundreds of pre-litigation consulting projects to our credit, which have allowed us the special insight, knowledge, and experience to provide this content to you from such a highly unique perspective.

Why don’t you hear more about these types of matters? Why don’t they appear on the headline news? The answer is simple—protective orders. Protective orders and confidentiality agreements are put in place by the attorneys and the judges to keep these matters quiet, confidential, and on the down low—at least, as much as reasonably possible. This allows these matters to be tried without much outside interference of public opinion. We call this the not-so-public, public record. However, because of what we do for a living, we are privy to nearly every aspect of these incidents and what the hard evidence actually reveals. We see firsthand the restaurant industry and/or company policies, procedures, operating systems, and practices that the restaurants at the center of these underlying legal matters are, or are not, implementing. We see evidence of what is and what is not the culture of safety created by the company and, in turn, echoed by the management at the top to the employees on the front lines.

We have probably seen more policy and procedural manuals from more restaurant industry organizations and establishments—the giants and the independents—than anyone on the face of the earth. Of course, we’re not allowed to share this information, as we are bound by protective orders and confidentiality agreements, and we must shred or return all files at the conclusion of each case; but the heartbreaking stories of the victims and the absolutely horrific pictures of those who were injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, and killed will be forever etched in our memories.

These matters result in billions of dollars in claims, judgments, awards, damages, and citations each year. Countless checks are written to attorneys, investigators, court reporters, various experts, and others; and an unbelievable number of man-hours are expended by those who would be better served by running their restaurants than by answering interrogatories, pulling together discovery documents, and making appearances at depositions and trials.

As you may well know, making a profit in the restaurant industry is no easy task to begin with; so just imagine how difficult it becomes while you’re having to dedicate countless hours and relatively large amounts of money defending yourself, your business, your policies and procedures, your standards, your company culture, your actions, and the actions of your employees.

Because we know that you must first understand how and why OSHA specifically applies to the restaurant industry before you can begin to comply with it, Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security is extremely helpful to those who need and seek guidance. Our readers are restaurant industry owners, managers, executives, support staff, vendors, and employees, as well as a significant number of lawyers, insurance executives and adjusters, industry insiders, educators, and media members.

Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security is written in plain, simple straightforward English. In short order, we will be offering Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security in the Spanish language as well.

Proper implementation of Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security will help make all restaurant employers and employees at every level better trained and more aware of safety, health, and security in any type of restaurant. Only then, will your restaurant (or group of restaurants) be safer for everyone and anyone who enters the premises—no matter whether they are your employees, service providers, or others who rely on the products and services that you provide.

OSHA is the law. All restaurants, all restaurant employers, and every single restaurant employee in every state in America (including all of her territories) must comply. Ignorance of the OSHA code—just like any other law—is not an acceptable excuse. But you don’t know what you don’t know; right? That is why Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security is so important for your success.

For instance, you probably didn’t know that you and anyone you put in charge (in any capacity) to manage employees or premises must provide competent person oversight to be in compliance with industry and OSHA standards; and you probably also didn’t know that when you place someone in charge, that person is instantaneously designated as a competent person—whether you realize it at the time or not. It’s also true that such a designation comes with a significant amount of responsibility according to OSHA. Regardless of the level of training that person received (if any at all), he or she will be held accountable—as will you—if an incident happens while he or she is in charge. In fact, if that person does not operate to reasonable and customary industry standards as it pertains to recognizing hazards and eliminating dangerous conditions, you could very well be held personally responsible and possibly even negligent in your duties to provide a safe and healthy restaurant establishment.

We can tell you from experience that many operators have the mentality that the restaurant industry is all fun and games until someone literally gets an eye poked out. Then it’s a whole new ball game, and suddenly everyone gets really serious. That’s when those in charge will have their feet held to the fire and made accountable for their actions and behaviors that led up to that someone getting an eye poked out on their premises and under their watch.

We understand how daunting OSHA code, standards, guidelines, and recommendations can be and that it can take months to try to decipher it all. That’s another reason why we are providing Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security. We wanted to make it easier for you to understand the OSHA code and much easier for everyone throughout the restaurant industry to comply with it. Just as importantly, we want to show you that it’s not only affordable to train but profitable for you and your business to do so.

A culture of safety takes time and commitment and is not always the easiest thing to create and maintain in a restaurant. Providing a consistent and continual flow of OSHA guidelines and restaurant industry safety, health, and security collateral materials requires a lot of effort and takes precious time away from day-to-day restaurant operations, such as managing employees and serving customers. The implementation of everything you learn from this book will help you have the time and resources to stay focused on driving sales, making schedules, training employees, creating effective marketing campaigns, and building long-term profitability while still maintaining standards pertaining to safety, health, and security.

If current trends continue, more people than ever before will be injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed on the premises of America’s restaurants this year, next year, and the years to follow. In an ever-growing litigious society, these kinds of incidents will lead to even more lawsuits and insurance claims filed against restaurants, and even more restaurant operators will have to spend their valuable time, money, and effort defending themselves (and paying judgments) than at any other time in our nation’s history. We wrote Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security to help reverse these trends because we love safe restaurants.

OSHA is the primary law of the land that governs occupational safety, health, and security across the United States of America and its territories. It is without a doubt one of the most important and most impactful governing bodies that protect employees, customers, vendors, contractors, and all others who enter the worksite or the premises from being injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed. The safety, health, and security of every person in every restaurant industry establishment across the entire country is riding on just how well you and your employees comply with Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security in your restaurants during every shift, every day, every week, and every month throughout the course of the entire year.

If you are working in the restaurant industry in any capacity (with any title or any level of compensation—from the front lines to the executive suite), then you are required to comply with OSHA, the governing bodies, and the restaurant industry standards that pertain to safety, health, and security. But bear in mind, there is a lot more to complying with OSHA than just plastering an OSHA poster on the wall; and it is YOUR responsibility to know what that is and how to do it. Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security was created to help you do just that.

Like most laws, codes, rules, and standards written by lawyers, legislatures, and politicians, OSHA can appear to be much more complex than it really is—making OSHA much less effective and certainly much less efficient at keeping people safe, healthy, and secure than it was originally intended to do. Fortunately, Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security was written to help you out with that. This material will:

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Help you understand and comply with OSHA and other restaurant industry standards pertaining to safety, health, and security

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Help you bring a higher level of dangerous condition awareness to everyone working in and relying on the restaurant industry

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Help you create a culture of safety, health, and security in your restaurant or group of restaurants

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Help you unleash the power of OSHA, Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security, and other restaurant industry standards by making compliance and training faster, easier, more convenient, more interesting, and more affordable (we will soon be providing you with our one-of-a-kind Mental Goulash for Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security, designed to make OSHA compliance and safety, health, and security training more interesting and more engaging for any audience)

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Help you become safer and more profitable as a result of complying to OSHA, Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security, and other safety, health, and security initiatives, goals, and standards

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Help you protect your employees, your customers, your vendors, and your restaurant business

What Makes This Material So Beneficial?

Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security will save you from wasting valuable time, money, and energy having to read mountains of tedious and confusing pages of legal jargon contained within the actual OSHA code itself. This manual is laid out in such a way to help you quickly and easily find the answers you need; and it is one of the most powerful tools available to help you improve safety, health, and security within your restaurant or group of restaurants. Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security is so much more than just a tool to comply with the law. When managed and implemented properly, the procedures defined here will have a profound impact on the way we all conduct business throughout the restaurant industry. You and your team can improve safety, health, and security performance by improving operating systems and increasing awareness of dangerous conditions, thereby reducing the likelihood of incidents where people become injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed on your premises or under your watch. Proper implementation of what is outlined here can not only help reduce the number of incidents that occur in your restaurant(s) but can also substantially help reduce the size of the claims and judgments against you.

Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security will help make any restaurant industry establishment in any part of the country a safer place to be and work in. It will help any restaurant industry employee and management person at any level be better trained, more engaged, and significantly more aware of the overall safety, health, and security of the entire premises. Used properly, it will help you recognize hazards and dangerous conditions and, even more importantly, help you eliminate them in the most efficient and effective ways possible.

Our objective is simple: To make OSHA and other restaurant industry safety, health, and security standards easier to understand; and, in turn, this will make them easier to comply with, more interesting to learn, and easier to train to others—and so affordable that no restaurant industry establishment (regardless of its volume of sales or profits) and no restaurant industry employer or employee (regardless of status, title, or compensation) will be able to say that they cannot afford to invest the time, money, or effort to comply. Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security is restaurant-industry specific, easy to train, and affordable for all budgets—which will help make your restaurant business more profitable. In meeting our objective, the safety measures and standards outlined in Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security will be more top-of-mind and safety will be of the highest priority for everybody conducting business in the restaurant industry.

We truly believe that if Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security can help just one person from being injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed in one of America’s restaurants, then it was well worth the countless number of hours of writing and research that it took for us to complete it and the extreme amount of effort that it took for us to get it to you.

THE QUICK-START GUIDE

We know you’re very busy running restaurants. Enough said. We also know that this material is not the most entertaining content on the planet, and you probably would rather be doing something else. We can’t necessarily blame you for that, but there is a time and a place for everything, and restaurant safety, health, and security needs to be your top priority. We provide The Quick-Start Guide to help you get a quick feel for some of the basics.

What is OSHA?

The short answer is that OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This agency is responsible for the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act)—the primary law of the land as it pertains to workplace safety and health across the United States of America and its territories.

Who Has to Comply with OSHA?

Nearly every single employer, employee, and business across the United States must comply with OSHA. If you are a restaurant industry employer, manager, employee, or executive at any level, or a support staff member sitting in an office somewhere, or a trainer who is responsible for the training of others, you must comply with OSHA. Yes, restaurant owners need to comply, as well as restaurant industry vendors. Whether you are dealing with one restaurant location or hundreds, you are required to abide by the standards, guidelines, rules, and regulations contained within the OSH Act; and you are expected to create and maintain a safe, healthy, and secure establishment for all employees, customers, vendors, and others who enter the premises.

Why Do I Have to Comply with OSHA?

Other than the fact that it is the right thing to do to keep people safe, you must comply with OSHA because it is the law—federal and, in some instances, state law. In fact, if you do not comply with OSHA, you and your business could be fined tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousands of dollars; and, in extreme circumstances, you can receive a prison sentence as well.

If someone gets injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed on the restaurant premises under your watch, you can rest assured that it will almost definitely turn into a lawsuit or an insurance claim against you and your business. If you, the management, the staff, or the establishment are not abiding by OSHA and other safety, health, and security standards, you may be held liable in a court of law and possibly found negligent in providing the management oversight or competent person oversight that is reasonably and customarily expected of someone in your position. If someone is injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed within your establishment, you could be looking at hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in damages—that’s not even counting the legal, expert, and attorney fees.

Why Should I Want to Comply?

In addition to the reasons previously mentioned, you should want to comply with OSHA because it is without a doubt one of the best tools you can possibly implement in any restaurant to help minimize the likelihood of an employee, a customer, a vendor, or anyone else being injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed. But there are also other safety, health, and security policies, procedures, systems, and standards that you should be implementing to be in full compliance with restaurant industry standards and the restaurant industry standards of care.

OSHA’s intent was clear from the very beginning and has remained steadfast—to improve safety, health, and security in the workplace and to save lives. For those of us in the restaurant industry, our employers and employees should be all about hospitality—we are in the hospitality business, after all. And there’s no better way to be hospitable than by showing others that you care about their well-being—providing safety, health, and security for your employees, your customers, and your vendors is the best way to achieve this. Doing anything less simply is not prudent or acceptable.

Why Is OSHA so Complex?

The OSHA code is a highly complex and extremely lengthy mountain of legalese contained within thousands of pages that were written by legislatures, lawyers, and politicians; and, at times, it seems almost impossible to muddle through. Not unlike most legal jargon, OSHA contains very few short answers to anything. Because of these complexities, OSHA is less effective and much less efficient than it should be, simply because it is not understood as well as it could be. This, and the fact that OSHA code is revised continually, has created a situation where those required to comply are struggling to understand and keep up with what it is exactly that they are supposed to be complying with.

Does OSHA Only Apply to Workers?

No. OSHA does not apply to workers only. We know that this may be a bit of a surprise to you, but OSHA speaks a great deal to 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 even that, as restaurants offer a unique set of circumstances referred to as shared space or common areas; and, therefore, OSHA compliance impacts everyone entering restaurant premises even more than it does most other industries. In other words, this law affects customers and employees, as well as others. (We will discuss this in greater detail later.)

OSHA Standards

In an effort to achieve its goal, OSHA sets and enforces uniform regulations and standards that apply to all workplaces. As defined in OSHA, 1910(f), ‘Standard’ means a standard which requires conditions, or the adoption or use of one or more practices, means, methods, operations, or processes, reasonably necessary or appropriate to provide safe or healthful employment and places of employment.¹

If at any time throughout this material you come across a subject matter for which you would like further clarification, you may visit www.osha.gov for additional insights pertaining to OSHA and its various codes, regulations, standards, and recommendations. However, it is important to note that OSHA does not write or provide the standards pertaining to safety, health, and security that are specific to the restaurant industry. In fact, there are many restaurant industry standards that you need to be aware of and comply with that cannot specifically be found in the OSHA code; that is, in large part, why we created Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security.

It is the legal responsibility under the Federal Law of the OSH Act for all employers—including each and every one of us conducting business throughout the restaurant industry—to provide a safe and healthful workplace for every employee. Therefore, it is up to us individually and collectively as members of the restaurant industry (and as owners, managers, executives, and decision-makers of our own establishments) to recognize our own industry hazards and dangerous conditions and to create, maintain, and comply with a wide variety of restaurant industry standards that pertain to safety, health, and security. Although many restaurant industry standards (and the restaurant industry hazards and dangerous conditions they pertain to) are not explicitly spelled out by OSHA, OSHA requires that all restaurant employers abide by them in an effort to provide a safe, healthy, and secure working environment as defined in its General Duty Clause.

From the Owner/CEO to the Cashier

It is imperative that every employer—regardless of the size of the restaurant business—and each and every employee (from the top-tier boss to the front line employees—including the new hires experiencing their first day on the job, such as the new waitress, cashier, or busboy) to realize the importance of safety, health, and security all throughout the premises. This is essential in establishing a safe, healthful, and secure environment for the benefit of all, and is a major factor in creating and maintaining a profitable restaurant business.

OSHA Standards Fall into Four Categories

OSHA standards fall into four categories: 1) Agriculture, 2) Construction, 3) Maritime, and 4) General Industry. Restaurants are part of the General Industry category; and, therefore, OSHA General Industry standards apply.

However, when a recognized hazard or dangerous condition from one of the other three categories becomes apparent within a restaurant industry workplace, the OSHA standard (or standards) pertaining to that particular hazard or dangerous condition may also apply to that restaurant workplace as well. All restaurants must abide by all recognized restaurant industry standards—whether specifically referenced by OSHA or recognized by any other industry or not.

In other words, if a condition is considered to be dangerous or hazardous in any industry other than the General Industry (such as on a farm or a construction site, for example) and the same or a similar type of dangerous or hazardous condition exists in your restaurant but OSHA does not speak directly to that particular condition in its standards for General Industry, then the OSHA standard (or standards) that applies to that dangerous or hazardous condition for the other industry could also apply to your restaurant. Once again, this is one of the reasons why we created Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security.

Restaurant Industry Classifications

Restaurants fall under the Major Group #58, as classified by the US Department of Labor, and this is further classified as Industry Group 581: Eating and Drinking Places (refer to section: 2.3 for further definition).

The rule of thumb used to determine whether an establishment is classified as an eating place or a drinking place is to review the point of sales receipts to determine the menu mix of the establishment. Those who derive a majority of their sales (more than 50 percent) from foods and non-alcohol-based beverages are considered an eating place; and those who derive a majority of their sales (more than 50 percent) from alcohol-based beverages are deemed to be a drinking place.

Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security applies to both eating and drinking places. For ease of writing, we refer to all of them throughout this material as restaurants or restaurant, bar, and food and beverage industry establishments. For a complete list of establishments included in these categories and a list of states with OSHA-approved State Programs, you may visit the OSHA website, www.osha.gov.

Why Is This Material Important for You to Know?

The material we present to you is important because it clearly reflects the long reach that OSHA has, and that restaurants are definitely not exempt from OSHA guidelines and other restaurant industry standards that apply to safety, health, and security. Therefore, you must comply with OSHA if you want to operate within the confines of the law. In fact, it is easier just to jump on board with the clear understanding that restaurant establishments doing business within the United States (or one of its governing territories) with at least one employee must comply with OSHA standards and other restaurant industry standards—it’s the law! There are very, very few exceptions.

That being said, proper implementation of the information in Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security will help make all restaurant employers and employees (at every level) better trained and more aware of safety, health, and security in any type of restaurant. We’ve made it easier for you to understand and easier for you to comply with OSHA; and, just as importantly, we show you that it’s not only affordable to train but, in the long run, will be profitable for you and your business to do so.

(For more information and details, please refer to the various sections and sub-sections contained within Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security or visit www.RestaurantOSHA.com.)

¹ United States Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, osha.gov, Definitions, Standard 1910.2, https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9698, Web. (4/2016).

1. WHAT IS OSHA?

OSHA stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA is an agency of the US Department of Labor. The Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health is the administrator for OSHA who answers to the Secretary of Labor—a President’s cabinet member.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is responsible for the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), which is the primary law of the land governing occupational safety, health, and security across the United States of America and its territories. But make no mistake about it, OSHA—both the Administration and the Act—is so much more than that.

Throughout this material, we will share with you how and why OSHA plays such a unique role in the restaurant industry. We will also show you how OSHA applies to nearly every type of incident in which employees, customers, vendors, or others have been injured, harmed, sickened, maimed, or killed on the premises of restaurants, bars, and food and beverage establishments. We will also go into more detail about the nature of restaurant industry operations and its unique and special circumstances, as well as how these special circumstances allow OSHA to impact the restaurant industry and its establishments unlike any other industry.

We understand that many of you in the restaurant industry have not taken the time to understand and comply with OSHA because of the overwhelming complexity of the Act itself. We know that the OSH Act is an extremely lengthy mountain of legalese written by legislatures, politicians, and lawyers; and, at times, it can seem almost impossible to decipher—to top it off, the OSHA standards are continually changing, with revisions made often. However, nearly everyone in the restaurant industry must comply with OSHA; and the best way to comply with it is to understand it first. This material has been created to help you do just that, and Restaurant OSHA Safety and Security is designed to make OSHA standards specific to our industry.

1.1 The OSH Act and the History Behind It

After nearly a century of state and federal governments attempting to mitigate workers’ exposure to hazards, Congress enacted the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSH Act). The Act was signed by President Richard Nixon on December 29, 1970. It became the primary federal law that governs occupational safety, health, and security in the private sector and federal government of the United States of America and its controlling territories—including, but not limited to, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and Guam.

Wow, one hundred years. Sometimes, government-led initiatives move a bit slower than what most of us would like!

1.2 OSHA Is the Law

The OSH Act, for the first time, set uniform national standards for providing a safe and healthful workplace and made it a legal responsibility to do so for all employers in the United States.

With the passing of the OSH Act, Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to assure so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.²

Before the creation of the OSH Act (also known as Public Law 91-596), there were no national laws for safety and health hazards in the workplace. Some states now have their own OSHA laws, which supersede the federal law (we’ll talk about this in more detail later, as it is not as cut and dried as it sounds).

OSHA regulations apply to all businesses having one or more employees. OSHA covers employers and workers in many fields, including, but not limited to, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, law, medicine, and even charity and disaster relief. Religious groups may also be covered if they employ workers for secular (nonreligious) purposes, such as maintenance or gardening.

The most important thing to