Burns and accidents happen, especially in a busy kitchen, but prevention is the key to a happy and safe congregation...
Once you know what hazards to look for in your church kitchen, you can be confident that your volunteers and team will be safe and well protected. And if an emergency does occur, you will be ready to act.
Carry out risk assessments
Although risk assessments sound complicated, they are very straightforward for most churches – the idea is to think about what might be harmful to people and put precautions in place. Put simply, once you have identified a hazard, what can you do to prevent an accident? For example, if your floor is too slippery, do you need to use anti-slip mats or shoes? Or if your volunteers are using knives to remove packaging, can you provide suitable cutters to prevent injury?
Also think about who is most at risk. If your afternoon creche uses the kitchen to make sandwiches and cups of juice, you need to consider what to put in place to prevent children entering the kitchen unattended. Or for a coffee morning with your elderly congregation, maybe think about your lighting – a well-lit kitchen is a safer kitchen, particularly for those with deteriorating eyesight.
Keeping your congregation, community and volunteers safe while using your church kitchen should start with a risk assessment. Luckily, for most churches, which present few hazards, this can be based solely on your judgement.
Preventing kitchen accidents
Even with the best plans in place, it can still be difficult to foresee hazards and accidents. From taking a hot pan from the oven to draining boiled pasta or making 20+ cups of tea, we all need to be sensible when using a church kitchen. And by following these safety precautions, you can be prepared for any eventuality:
With our semi-commercial kitchens, we can offer everything you want in the kitchen environment. Durability and strength assured; Steelplan Kitchens are best placed to make your kitchen a safe success – call us on 0844 809 9186
The inherent strength of metal and a combination of the benefits listed on this page mean that a steel Kitchen will far exceed the life expectancy of a standard wooden carcass kitchens in semi-commercial environments.
The polyester powder coated steel is impervious to water. No more swollen chipboard or rotting MDF.
The metal is fire resistant and the powder coat finish formulated so that no toxic fumes are emitted in the case of fire.
Unlike wooden/chipboard cabinets the Steelplan Kitchen carcass does not contain any material that may sustain, harbour or encourage insects or bacteria.
The powder coated finish means that the units can be kept to an extremely high level of cleanliness and hygiene at all times. Essential when used in health locations.
It looks great! The hidden steel backbone is dressed up with a choice of doors to produce whatever look and feel you want.