What hazards are associated with knife use in catering?
Injuries from knife use typically involve cuts and lacerations to the non-knife hand. However, depending on the task taking place, all areas of the body exposed within the sphere of knife activity are vulnerable, e.g. upper body, arms and groin.
There is currently a trend of issuing protective gloves to chefs using knives, is this sufficient?
No. The blanket provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) is not an acceptable initial response in the first instance. Furthermore, injuries are not exclusively caused when the knife is being used to cut food.
How should the control of hazards associated with knife use be approached?
The approach is the same for all other hazards in the workplace. A risk assessment should be carried out with a view to eliminating or reducing the hazards at source.
The general principle that should be followed in that PPE is the control of last resort, i.e. if there is still a residual risk after other control measures have been considered and implemented. Analysis of your accident records will also assist you in assessing if your control measures are indeed working.
What is meant by ‘at source’?
Simply what it says, dealing with the risk of injury ‘at the sharp end’! Issues to consider would include:
Consideration of buying in ready prepared foods, thus eliminating or reducing the need for excessive preparation.
Provision of training in ‘Knife Skills’.
Ensuring that there is a suitable range of knives for the nature of the tasks e.g. boning, paring, filleting, carving, and foods being prepared.
Keeping knives sharp and in good condition – injuries from insufficiently sharp knives result from excessive force being used to cut.
Making sure preparation surfaces are stable, e.g. placing a damp CLEAN cloth between a preparation board and worksurface to prevent it from slipping.
Maintaining an adequate level of lighting in the food preparation area, e.g. not working in shadow.
Ensuring that preparation areas are not used as thoroughfares, e.g. preventing collision with deliveries brought into the kitchen.
Provision of safe knife storage, e.g. knife block, magnetic rack, chef’s roll.
Maintaining safe carrying and washing up procedures, e.g. carry with blade facing down and washing immediately after use, not leaving in murky wash up water or amongst other equipment.
Is it acceptable to issue gloves after eliminating or reducing the hazards at source?
It is, although this is still influenced by the nature of the task, e.g. boning out would still present a residual risk of injury that would warrant the provision of a chainmail or Kevlar glove. However, with the implementation of the above examples of controls, the risk of injury from preparing macedoine vegetables will arguably be minimal.
Consideration of the effects the issue of gloves will cause is also necessary, e.g.
Hygiene – can they be maintained to a sufficiently high standard of hygiene; are there any special cleaning methods/chemicals required?
Loss of dexterity – can this result in accidents of a different nature?
Complacency – safety practices can sometimes lapse when employees rely too much on the protection afforded by PPE and thus glove use must be rigidly enforced, i.e. sufficient pairs must be available for all relevant staff at all times, e.g. sufficient spare when pairs are being cleaned, changing pairs when handling different foods.
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Answers are provided by the European Safety Bureau and do not necessarily represent the views of the CIEH. See www.esb.eu.com
