Whether you work behind the scenes in the kitchen or you’re having a nice dinner out with your family, restaurants have always been places where people can come together and enjoy a good meal.
However, making your medium-rare steak or cup of clam chowder takes many steps to prevent injuries in the kitchen, and injuries at the dinner table.
What Kinds of Injuries Could I Get in a Restaurant?
Despite their best efforts, restaurant workers will occasionally overlook all the steps that are involved in cleaning equipment, preparing meals, and serving guests. One of the most common risks associated with restaurants is finding a foreign object in food. Not only is it gross to find something in your food that shouldn’t be there, but it can frequently damage the teeth, jaw, or esophagus if you ingest the foreign object without looking at what’s on your fork. Most concerning, however, is that a foreign object in food is a serious choking hazard. Between 1945 and 2017, unintentional deaths due to choking have increased by more than 500%. Additionally, food is the main culprit when it comes to choking deaths, according to the National Safety Council.
Another common risk of consuming food or drinking a beverage that has unwanted foreign bodies is food poisoning. If the meal is contaminated with Staphylococcus, Salmonella, or other common foodborne bacteria or viruses, it can lead to severe nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea for several hours.
If you work in the kitchen of a restaurant, you’re probably accustomed to large pots of steaming liquid, deep fryers, open flames, and other things that can cause serious harm if employees don’t follow the rules. The most common type of burn you can receive in a restaurant is a scald, which occurs when an area of skin comes in contact with steam or hot liquid. It only takes approximately one second of contact with water at 155⁰F (68⁰C) to receive a 3rd-degree burn, according to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.
A 2007 study by the National Floor Safety Institute showed that more than 1,000,000 restaurant guests and more than 3,000,000 employees are injured each year by a slip or fall, and the rate is increasing by about 10% annually. Billions of dollars are spent each year to cover the costs of these injuries, and they serve as the most frequent general liability claims throughout the restaurant industry. If a restaurant doesn’t have a robust cleaning process, use the right products, or dry their floors properly, individuals can suffer a fall and receive potentially serious injuries.
I’ve Been Injured at a Restaurant, Now What?
Injuries in a restaurant are often due to negligence. If you are a restaurant employee who has recently been harmed while working, or if you were injured as a guest, you deserve all the necessary resources to heal. The experienced personal injury team at PPID is dedicated to preserving your rights and protecting your future by handling restaurant injury claims through aggressive and strategic representation. Call 800-223-2814 for a free consultation at our New York office.
