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Potential Hazard
Exposure of teen restaurant workers to
injuries due to slips, trips, and falls while performing tasks
such as carrying trays or bins of dirty dishes, washing dishes, mopping
floors, emptying trash, cleaning, and spraying down parking lots.
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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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- Keep passageways and walkways free of clutter and crowding.
- Be sure that rugs and mats are in place.
- Wipe up spills immediately. "Spot mop" only during
busy times.
- Do not overfill bussing containers.
Make a couple of trips to "clear" a table. The added
time it takes to do the job safely will prevent injures in the
long run.
- Overfilling bussing containers can encourage strain
injuries if you try to carry a container that is
too heavy.
- Overfilling containers is also dangerous because when a
container is overfilled, items tend to fall out. If you
try to grab the item you may end up dropping the
entire container and possibly slipping on or getting cut
by broken slippery dishes.
- Even if items don't fall out of overfilled containers,
workers focus so much on keeping everything inside the
container that they forget to watch where they are going
and trip and fall over objects in the room.
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Don't overfill bussing containers.
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- Wear appropriate waterproof non-slip footwear.
This is especially important if doing wet processes such as
spraying down parking lots or mopping floors.
- If available, use slip-resistant overshoes when performing wet or greasy tasks. During wet
processes, use the overshoes on top of your
existing shoes for non-slip protection. Non-slip shoe
covers provide safe footwear for a minimal cost.
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Non-slip mat and shoes
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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 Standards including:
- Keep all places of employment clean and orderly and in a
sanitary condition. Walking/Working Surfaces Standard [1910.22(a)(1)].
- Keep floors clean and dry.
Where wet processes are used, maintain drainage, and provide false floors, platforms, mats, or other dry standing
places where practicable [1910.22(a)(2)].
- Provide warning signs for wet floor areas [1910.145(c)(2)].
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Consider implementing recommended safe work
practices, including:
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- Provide non-slip matting in areas that tend to be
wet. Some types of matting may not be effective in areas
that tend to be greasy. The use of no-skid waxes and floor
surfaces coated with grit may be helpful in these areas.
- Consider implementing a shoe
policy program. The program could focus on employees wearing
proper non-slip footwear, and could help fund proper footwear.
- Consider providing non-slip overshoe
covers for employees to when they perform wet or
greasy tasks.
- Ensure spills are reported and
cleaned up immediately.
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Slip-resistant "over" shoes
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For more information see Serving -
Slips/Trips/Falls Module.
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