Kitchens in care homes vary from domestic-type small kitchens where residents can take some part in preparing their own meals, to commercially designed kitchens that are fully equiped to meet the needs of a large home.
For your risk assessment you will need to take into account :
Kitchen layout;
food hygiene;
floors, slips and trips;
equipment
use of pesticides
staff hygiene
The main causes of accident in kitchen areas and the priorities for accident prevention are:
- Slips and trips - from slippery floors and from leakage and spillage of contamination onto the floor (including carrying vessels without a secure cover), from wet cleaning methods, not drying the floor after cleaning and trips due to objects (buckets etc) left in walkways and uneven floor surfaces.
- Handling - lifting heavy objects such as pans, trays, packs, tables. From handling sharp objects such as exposed blades during cleaning and from awkward lifts from low ovens or from high positions.
- Burns - splashes and hot objects.
- Struck by moving articles - horseplay, falling goods in storage and unloading and falling and toppling equipment.
- Walking into objects
- Machinery
- Falls
- Fire and explosion
- Electric shock
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