Preventing Kitchen Burns and Fires

Burns are among the most common injuries in food work. Commercial kitchens, bakeries and coffee bars run hot oil, steam, ovens and boiling water all day, usually in a tight space, and often with people moving fast around them.

Most of these injuries come from a small number of situations: splashing oil, lifting lids, grabbing hot handles and moving hot liquids. This guide shows you how to avoid them, and what to do if a burn or a fire does happen.

What You Will Be Able to Do

• Recognize the main burn hazards at each kitchen station.
• Handle hot oil, steam, pans and liquids safely.
• Change and filter fryer oil without a spill.
• Put out a small grease fire without making it worse.
• Give first aid for a minor burn, and know when to get emergency help.

Where Burns Happen

Water near 140°F can burn skin within seconds, and fryer oil runs far hotter than that. A burn doesn't need a large spill to be serious.

Dress for Heat

• Long sleeves made of natural fibers, such as cotton, give some protection. Avoid loose sleeves and synthetic fabrics that melt.
• Wear closed-toe, slip-resistant shoes. Spills land on feet.
• Tie back long hair, and keep apron strings secure.
• Keep dry side towels or oven mitts close by.

Warning: A wet towel or mitt transfers heat instantly. Steam forms inside it and can burn your hand. Use only dry towels and mitts to lift hot items.

Replace torn mitts, and never use apron corners or paper towels as pot holders.

Everyday Burn Prevention

Pans and burners

• Turn pan handles inward, away from the front of the range, and not over another burner.
• Treat every pan handle as hot. Many kitchens drape a dry towel or a pinch of flour on a hot handle to warn others. Follow your kitchen's signal.
• Dry food before it goes into hot oil. Water makes oil splatter.
• Place food into a pan or a fryer by laying it away from you, so that any splash goes the other way.
• Say "hot" or "hot behind" when you carry something hot.

Lids, ovens and steam

• Open lids away from you, so that the steam escapes on the far side.
• Stand to the side when you open a steamer, a combi oven or a dish machine door.
• Pull oven racks out rather than reaching in. Keep your arms clear of the hot door and the elements.
• Let steam clear before you reach in.
• Keep your hand away from the steam wand, group heads and hot water spouts on a coffee machine, and point wands away from you when purging them.

Hot liquids

• Fill pots only as far as you can safely carry them. Use two people or a cart for large ones.
• Don't carry a full stockpot through a busy kitchen. Move the liquid in smaller containers.
• Keep your path clear, and call out your route.
• Use caution with a blender: a sealed lid and hot liquid can burst. Fill it only partway and vent the lid.

Microwaves. Food in a sealed container can erupt. Open covers away from your face.

Fryer Safety

A deep fryer holds gallons of oil at around 350°F, and it can stay hot for a long time after it's switched off.

1. Keep the fryer level, stable and away from open flame if possible.
2. Fill oil only to the marked line. Oil expands when heated.
3. Keep water, ice and wet food away. Frozen foods with ice crystals can make oil boil over.
4. Lower baskets slowly. Don't overfill them.
5. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for filtering and changing oil. Wear the gloves, apron and face protection your employer provides.
6. Allow oil to cool to the temperature your procedure allows. Hot oil transfers are one of the biggest sources of serious kitchen burns.
7. Use the proper filter machine or a sealed transfer container. Never carry an open pail of hot oil.

Clean up spilled oil right away, because oil makes a floor both slippery and hazardous.

Fire Prevention

Most kitchen fires start with cooking equipment, and grease is the usual fuel.

• Keep hoods, filters and ducts clean, on the schedule your business has set.
• Keep towels, paper, packaging and plastics away from burners and ovens.
• Don't leave a hot pan or a fryer unattended.
• Keep flammable cleaners away from heat.
• Learn where the fire extinguishers, the manual pull station for the hood system and the gas shutoff are.
• Keep exits and aisles clear.
• Report damaged cords, gas smells and equipment faults right away. Don't fix them yourself.

If you smell gas, don't light anything and don't use switches. Tell your supervisor, get people out, and follow your emergency plan.

Responding to a Grease Fire

Warning: Never throw water on a grease fire. Water sinks through the oil, flashes to steam and throws burning oil across the room. Never carry a burning pan.

For a small fire in a pan, if it's safe and you're trained:

1. Turn off the heat if you can reach the control safely.
2. Slide a metal lid or a sheet pan over the pan, from the side nearest you toward the far side, so that the flames move away from you.
3. Leave the cover on and let the pan cool. Lifting it too soon can let the fire restart.

For anything larger, or if you're not sure:

1. Activate the hood suppression system by using the manual pull station, if you're trained and it's safe.
2. Sound the alarm and get everyone out.
3. Call 911 from a safe place.

Commercial kitchens use Class K extinguishers for cooking oils and fats. A Class K extinguisher is used in addition to the fixed hood system, not in place of it. Only use an extinguisher if you've been trained, the fire is small, and you have a clear way out.

Even if a fire looks fully out, the fire department may need to check the hood and duct, and the suppression system must be reset by a qualified person before cooking starts again.

Burn First Aid

For a minor burn:

1. Move away from the heat source.
2. Cool the burn under cool, clean running water for about 10 to 20 minutes.
3. Remove rings, watches and tight clothing near the burn, before swelling starts.
4. Cover it loosely with a clean, non-stick dressing.
5. Tell your supervisor and report the injury according to your workplace's procedure.

Don't use ice, butter, oil or ointments on a fresh burn. Don't pop blisters.

Call 911 or get emergency care for burns that are large or deep, burns that look charred or white, burns on the face, hands, feet or groin, burns around a joint, electrical or chemical burns, and any burn with breathing trouble. If clothing is stuck to the burn, leave it in place.

If a person's clothing catches fire, they should stop, drop and roll. Smother flames with a fire blanket or a heavy cloth if you have one, and call for help.

Hands with open burns can't touch food until they've been properly covered. Throw away any food that may have been contaminated.

Common Mistakes

Check Your Understanding

1. A pan of oil catches fire on the burner beside you. You have a metal lid on hand. What do you do?

Turn off the heat if you can reach it safely, slide the lid over the pan, and leave it there until the pan cools. Don't move the pan and don't use water.

2. A coworker burns her forearm on an oven rack. Someone offers her butter and ice. What should she do instead?

Cool it under cool running water for 10 to 20 minutes, remove anything tight, cover it loosely, and report it. Skip the butter and the ice.

3. You need to move a full pot of boiling stock to the walk-in on a busy night. What's the safer way?

Don't carry it full. Ladle it into smaller containers, use a cart, or get help, and call out as you go.

4. Your side towel is damp from wiping the station. A pan needs to come out of the oven. What should you do?

Get a dry towel or a mitt first. A wet towel transfers heat and can give you a steam burn.

Key Takeaways

• Treat every handle, rack and lid as hot, and call out when you carry something hot.
• Use only dry towels and mitts.
• Open lids away from you, and stand to the side of steam.
• Follow your fryer procedure, and let oil cool before moving it.
• Smother a small grease fire with a lid. Never use water and never move the pan.
• Cool a burn under running water, keep it clean, and get medical help for serious burns.