Chris Purslow and Associates was formed in 1985 to offer a range of back up services to the Food Manufacturing and Hotel and Catering Industries. These include

· Auditing and Monitoring in all aspects of Food Safety and Health and Safety.

· Development of Documentation and Systems customised for the individual client to ensure compliance with legislation.

· Liaison as necessary with enforcement authorities.

· Training in both Food Safety and Health and Safety: Registered centre for the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health.

· Supplier Auditing.

· Monitoring contractors and advising on contracts.

Chris Purslow is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, a member of the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management and a founder member of the Expert Witness Institute. He has had extensive experience throughout the industry, lectures widely and has made a number of appearances in the media.

Chris Purslow and Associates is retained by leading Hotels and Restaurants in the country, and have helped a number of major companies set up their in house facilities.

In this bulletin I want to concentrate on the requirement for Risk Assessment. It may be that your friendly local EHO has already required this, after all the law says that if you employ more than 5 people you have to have an up to date written Risk Assessment.

Very often however, as with other systems and procedures it may not have been directly required. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security. If you have a reportable accident, the first thing asked for will be your Risk Assessment. If you don't have one you might as well put your hands up.

Not that legal compliance is the only reason for this process. It will genuinely make you step back and look at what you're doing in your kitchen, and help you highlight those day in day out tasks, which require control.

An accident occurred in a hotel where the woman who looked after the staff food took the end of her finger on the meat slicer. When the accident was investigated, the control system limited the use of the slicer to the Sous Chefs. Over the years however, the slicer had become used by the staff canteen, but without any specific training being given. Fortunately the Local Authority let them off with an Improvement Notice, mainly because at least a Risk Assessment had been done.

So how to go about it? There are a series of simple steps to follow and the process is not as complicated as many think:

1. List the tasks/hazards in the kitchen. Individual tasks are straight forward e.g. using a deep fat fryer. Sometimes it is easier to summarise a number of tasks where the hazard is the same e.g. Use of electrical equipment, Knife work, etc. Remember to include infrequent operations such as duct cleaning etc. these type of operations are often forgotten and yet may be some of the most hazardous.



2. For each task, list the hazards, there are often several in one operation. A good example is using a large blitzer. The hazards will be electrical (especially if its been thrown around the kitchen!), risk of contact with the blades, risk of splashing with hot liquid, and the manual handling task.



3. Having listed the hazards i.e. the potential for harm, you should now consider the risk. Risk is a measure of how likely it is that an accident will happen and if it does, what is the likely outcome. You can use a simple formula such as is included on the form accompanying this bulletin. Put simply:
   
   RISK = LIKLIHOOD x SEVERITY



4. Putting a rating on each one will enable us to prioritise for action. Anything that comes up at 4 or below can normally be left to be controlled by general arrangements. For those higher risks, the next step is to compare them with the existing controls. If it ain't bust don't fix it! And it may be that all you need to do is to write down what you are already doing. For a minority of the risks action will be necessary. If possible you should eliminate the risk altogether. If this can't be done you may be able to lessen the risk e.g. if the risk is handling incoming goods, the handling and lifting task can be lessened by asking the supplier to break down quantities into smaller boxes and by providing good trolleys etc., to limit the need to carry. Where you cannot take physical action, you will need to manage the procedure and a written safe system of work should be drawn up. Examples would be the use of the meat slicer, emptying a deep fat fryer, and deep cleaning the filters above the range. In each case the job can be done safely, but only if tackled in the proper way.



5. The last step is to ensure that this is all properly written down. It should be reviewed at least annually, but also when there is a change, or after an accident has occurred. Please don't just leave it on a shelf awaiting the EHO. This should be a living document and if used as a basis for writing procedures and as a training aid, it can make a real contribution to running a safe operation.

There is no one way to carry out Risk Assessment provided it is broadly in line with the steps above. To give you a start however, if you have not done a Risk Assessment before, I attach a simple form, which has been filled in to give you a clue.

For more information on kitchen safety can I refer you to "An Essential Guide to Safety in the Hotel and Catering Industry" available soon through Chandos Publishing (end of shameless advertisement!).

CHRIS PURSLOW