Quick answer
Observe how the kitchen actually works, identify who may be harmed and assess the controls for each significant task. Include deliveries, handling, knives, machinery, heat, cleaning substances, wet work and walking routes. Allocate actions and review changes alongside the business’s food-safety arrangements.
Kitchen risks change through the working day
The quiet conditions before opening may differ from service, wash-up or closing. Equipment, hot items, deliveries and cleaning can bring hazards together when space and attention are limited.
HSE’s catering guidance identifies important worker-safety risks. Plan those controls alongside food safety: the published small-business HACCP guide addresses the food-safety system.
1. Follow the real work and involve staff
Walk through receiving, storage, preparation, cooking, service, wash-up, waste, closing and maintenance. Observe relevant busy periods and different work patterns. Ask the people doing the work where the agreed method becomes difficult.
Identify workers and others affected, including contractors and people unfamiliar with the site. Use HSE’s risk-management steps or HSENI’s NI assessment guidance for the relevant duties, records and review approach. A score alone is not a control.
2. Assess significant tasks and practical controls
| Work stage | Risks to assess | Control and ownership questions |
|---|---|---|
| Deliveries and storage | Handling, unstable storage, access and crossing movements. | Is the receiving/storage method suitable, and who keeps the route usable? |
| Preparation | Knives, machinery, repetitive work and awkward reach. | Are tools, safeguards, layout and task instruction suitable? |
| Cooking and service | Heat, steam, hot liquids and movement through busy areas. | Are equipment, timing, routes and handling methods assessed? |
| Wash-up and cleaning | Wet floors, cleaning substances, wet work and hot equipment. | Are cleaning, exposure and access controls workable during the shift? |
| Closing and maintenance | Cleaning machinery, energy, waste handling and reduced staffing. | Who is authorised, and what isolation, cover and handback arrangements are needed? |
HSE’s catering maintenance guidance addresses machinery guards, steam and warewashing equipment and the need for competent maintenance. Arrange specialist assessment for systems such as gas or electrical work where needed.
3. Include health risks as well as visible accidents
HSE’s catering COSHH guidance covers wet work, cleaning substances and cooking fumes. Review exposure and the combination of work methods, storage, ventilation and protection needed.
Use detailed controls for the actual tasks. Published supporting guides include protecting skin during wet work, kitchen knife safety and slip prevention.
Worked example: deliveries during hot-food movement
Hypothetical example. Deliveries arrive through the same narrow route used to move hot pans during service. The assessment considers the combined movement and timing, rather than recording “manual handling” and “burns” in unrelated boxes.
The manager evaluates a different receiving time or suitable route arrangement, checks storage space and explains who coordinates the movement. They observe the next representative service to confirm whether the new arrangement works.
Record actions with an owner, completion point and a way to verify the result. Use interim controls where necessary while a permanent change is arranged.
4. Review after change and recurring problems
Review new equipment, menu or process changes that alter work, different staffing or hours, layout changes and incidents or reported difficulties. Check opening, service, cleaning and closing arrangements together.
- Assessing only an empty kitchen. Observe relevant activity.
- Listing hazards without owners or controls. Agree actions and verify them.
- Food hygiene treated as the whole worker-safety assessment. Include injury and exposure risks.
- Training used to compensate for an unsuitable layout. Review the work design.
Next steps
- Observe the full kitchen workflow and consult staff.
- Identify people, significant tasks and the controls needed.
- Assign actions and specialist work where appropriate.
- Check the changes during real work and review the assessment.
Explore HSE’s catering safety guidance — Use the industry guidance to identify specialist controls alongside the site assessment.
Relevant next resource
Level 3 Health & Safety in the Workplace
The verified Level 3 workplace course covers managers’ risk assessments, equipment, staff training and corrective action relevant to coordinating kitchen safety.
From £43.50 GBP
Available
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