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Food Preparation
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The Food Preparation area of a restaurant
offers teen workers an opportunity for developing skills in culinary
art, sanitation principles, and in the use of kitchen equipment. Teen
workers in this area may also be exposed to the following hazards:
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Machine Guarding
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What is machine guarding?
When moving machine parts have the potential for causing severe workplace
injuries such as crushed
fingers or hands or amputations, machine guarding eliminates or controls these hazards and provides essential
and required protection for the worker.
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Potential Hazard
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Remember:
Child Labor Laws do not permit employees younger than 18
to operate, set up, adjust, clean, oil, or repair power-driven
equipment such as meat slicers or bakery mixers. |
Teens often help prepare foods for restaurants
and are exposed to power-driven equipment such as commercial
dough mixers, choppers, and slicers that may be hazardous if
machine guarding is not in place.
- Workers can be caught in the rotating blades of the mixer,
resulting in strangulations, broken bones, and amputations.
Cuts and amputation injuries can also occur when using or
cleaning slicers and dicers.
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Mixer |
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Possible Solutions
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Employers have the primary
responsibility for protecting the safety and health of their
workers. Employees are responsible for following the safe work
practices of their employers.
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Remember if you are under 18 years old, Child Labor Laws
don't allow you to operate power-driven equipment such as mixers and
slicers. This information is provided for workers 18 years
old and older who may be using power-driven equipment in
restaurants.
- Use caution when working
around power-driven equipment.
- Turn off and unplug machinery
before cleaning or removing a blockage.
- Use any machine
guarding that is provided.
- Get properly trained before
using any equipment.
- Ask that machinery be securely fixed
to benches or tabletops.
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Apron caught in mixer
with no guarding |
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- Do not put your hands into
machinery to manipulate food. Use pushers or tamps to move
food in machinery.
- Wear proper work clothing,
avoiding loose clothing or jewelry
that could become caught in machinery; such items caught in
machinery can pull you into machinery causing injury and or death.
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Employers have the primary
responsibility for protecting the safety and health of their
workers. Employees are responsible for following the safe work
practices of their employers. |
Follow OSHA's standards, including:
- Provide machine guards to protect the
operator and other employees in the machine area from hazards.
Machine Guarding Standard [1910.212(a)(1)].
- Use tamps or push sticks or other hand tools to feed
or remove food from grinders, slicers, or choppers
[1910.212(a)(3)(iii)].
- Isolate hazards with machine guarding (such as providing barrier guards over a mixer when it is in
use to prevent strangulation or amputations).
- Look for examples of machine guarding for General Industry-Bakery
equipment in [1910.263].
Paragraph (c) addresses general requirements for machine
guarding in Bakeries.
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Pie crust maker with machine guarding |
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Follow the
Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) including:
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The FLSA forbids young workers
(younger than 18 years old) from operating, setting up,
adjusting, cleaning, oiling, or repairing power-driven meat
slicers, grinders, choppers, cutters, and bakery mixers and
other power-driven bakery machines. It
is considered hazardous
work.
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Consider implementing recommended safe work practices, including:
- Label equipment that young workers are not
allowed to operate. The
DOL YouthRules!
website has available downloadable
stickers for employers to place on hazardous equipment
to alert all workers that no one under 18 years of age may
operate the equipment.
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DOL sticker to be placed on equipment young workers are not allowed to operate |
Additional Resources
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