Create a Restaurant Safety Checklist in 10 Steps + Free Templates

Why You Should Maintain a Restaurant Health and Safety Checklist

A checklist for restaurant health and safety contains all the information you need to stay in compliance with health and safety regulations. Utilizing restaurant compliance checklists to conduct routine inspections on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis helps keep employees and customers safer at work by preventing accidents. 

Thousands of hospitality businesses across the US use restaurant health and safety checklists as a compliance management tool since they not only help safeguard your business during EHO inspections but also aid in maintaining restaurant compliances.

Not following food and safety procedures at a restaurant could lead to:

• Food Poisoning: Individuals in the food preparation industry need to be aware of the causes and prevention methods of food contamination. Failure to do so can lead to serious consequences for customers and legal accountability for your establishment;

• Accidents and Liability: Non-compliance with restaurant health and safety rules can also lead to accidents, such as slips and trips, or broken restaurant equipment. These occurrences not only threaten staff and consumers but also expose your restaurant business to considerable liability concerns and potential litigation.

• Loss of Reputation: Negative customer experiences, particularly related to food safety, can significantly harm your restaurant's reputation. Potential consumers will be deterred from visiting your establishment if they hear about the negative experiences of others;

• Penalty Notices and Closure: Dissatisfied customers who contracted food poisoning at your establishment may take legal action. Additionally, non-compliance with health and safety regulations during food safety inspections can result in penalties or, in severe cases, the closure of your restaurant.

If you put in the effort to get a high food hygiene rating, you will enjoy:

• Stress-free Food Safety Inspections: No need to stress over unannounced inspections if you consistently adhere to all food safety regulations. Businesses that put great emphasis on their hygiene and sanitary SOPs and invest in softwares that enable automation of the process, tend to never fall short during routine inspections.

• Effective Kitchen Operations: Following established protocols will ensure that all aspects of food preparation go off without any problems. By clearly labeling and storing all ingredients, investing in softwares that allow automated temperature logging and monitoring you can cut down on food waste by making sure everything is used up within the specified time;

• Satisfied Customers: Customers notice even the smallest details in a restaurant. If your kitchen and dining area are spotless, they will appreciate the safe environment and are more likely to recommend your business. Additionally, by catering to people with allergies, you can attract even more clients.

Key Components of Food and Health Safety Checklist

The five pillars of food safety in restaurants are:

• Cleaning: Every area of the kitchen and restaurant needs to be cleaned thoroughly and frequently. Be mindful of details that are frequently overlooked, such as surfaces, floors, bins, and kitchenware;

• Cooking: To ensure that any potentially hazardous bacteria are removed, every item given to customers must be prepared to the appropriate temperature as per food safety regulations;

• Chilling: Every item kept in a kitchen must be kept in closed containers marked with the date of opening. Additionally, they must be stored in a space with controlled temperature and division type. Raw meat, for example, cannot be kept near fresh produce.

• Cross-contamination: To stop ingredients from becoming contaminated, all staff members should wear protective clothes and practice good personal hygiene. Additionally, you need to have different cooking utensils for each safe zone if you accommodate different diets and allergies. To make sure you remember what they're for, you can color code them.

• Maintenance: Regular maintenance of kitchen equipment and facilities is crucial to prevent breakdowns and ensure safe operation. Every piece of equipment, including refrigeration units and ovens, needs to be inspected and maintained according to the manufacturer's instructions. 

How to Create a Restaurant Health Safety Checklist in 10 Easy Steps

1. Maintain a Hygienic and Organized Environment

Maintaining kitchen hygiene safety is an ongoing process that calls for constant effort. It is essential to have a well defined system that is part of your regular SOP. 

Begin by classifying the waste materials that restaurants generate, such as food scraps, grease and oil, paper waste, containers, and more. Plan their disposal accordingly.

Include menus, condiments, and high-touch locations in your routine cleaning to prevent the accumulation of germs, food debris, and fingerprints. Finding a greasy smear when dining out is the fastest way to curb your customer’s appetite.

Store rooms should be cleaned often to ward against pests and spoiling. Kitchens and dining rooms are typically kept up nicely, while restrooms require more care. Customers frequently use the condition of the restrooms to assess the general hygiene of a restaurant. Clean, multiple sinks and readily available hand sanitizer are expected in the wake of the outbreak; a tiny or dirty sink is a big cause for concern.

Create a thorough cleaning checklist to ensure that your staff is staying on task and your restaurant is always immaculate. Your workers will be able to easily receive changes and have real-time access to this process if you use digital and flexible checklists. These checklists may also be updated as needed, which guarantees that everyone is always aware of the most recent rules and procedures and creates a safer and more effective working environment.

Check out this Food Premise Inspection Checklist by Xenia

2. Ensure Proper Food Handling and Storage

A good restaurant manager makes food safety a habit. When it comes to ensuring customer safety and satisfaction, the goal in restaurants should be to always push things to the next level. 

For every employee to grasp the fundamentals of food safety, leadership should set an example through proper onboarding and training. It is crucial to emphasize the point through training, whether it is for senior management or ownership.

One area that most restaurants frequently make mistakes in is temperature control. Strict rules should be established for safe storage temperatures because even little temperature variations can cause germs to proliferate. To put it simply, watch out for those perishables and change them out regularly. You can do so with the help of a detailed food transportation and storage checklist to ensure compliance with local restaurant health safety regulations.

3. Promote Allergen Awareness

The waiters and chefs are mostly responsible for the diners' well-being.  A strategy for managing food safety must include allergen control. You can't afford to make a mistake with the increasing prevalence of allergic reactions in the media, which is why using an allergen control checklist is essential to making sure you handle allergens correctly in terms of separation and labeling.

Officers of environmental health will examine the labels on your celery, sesame seeds, and the remaining 12 allergens, paying particular attention to controls on allergen cross-contamination. In order to receive a 5* food hygiene rating (scores on the doors) and pass your EHO inspection with flying colors, you should properly identify these items and, ideally, have separate spaces or utensils for specific allergens, like nuts.

When a guest advises a waiter or waitress about a food allergy, all of your staff must take an active role in averting an undesirable outcome. Kitchen ingredients must be properly labeled, and any cooking utensils that come into touch with food allergies should be well-cleaned. Regular staff training and encouraging open communication between the front and back of the house constitute the first line of defense.

Labeling allergens on your menu and educating customers on safe dining practices are other ways you can assist and empower them to make wise choices. To find potential cross-contamination, think about going over a dish's ingredients and preparation with your guest. In case that a customer experiences an allergic response, call 911.

4. Enhance Equipment Safety

Due to the frequent wear and tear that restaurant equipment experiences, it's critical to routinely check all culinary equipment to make sure everything is installed and operating as it should. 

 Equipment used in restaurants needs to be maintained to ensure its longevity and safety. This covers regular upkeep, inspection, and cleaning of every appliance. Frequent maintenance guarantees adherence to safety standards and prevents unplanned malfunctions. 

Particular care must be taken with equipment that presents a greater risk because of hot temperatures or flammable materials. For example, the oil quality and temperature control in deep fryers should be inspected, and leaks and appropriate flame characteristics should be verified in gas stoves. 

Even mom-and-pop businesses need to provide training for their high-tech equipment and specialized gadgets. To avoid mishaps, ensure that all employees have received training on the proper use and handling of kitchen appliances. 

Invest in a restaurant equipment maintenance software that can help you schedule and routinize your daily equipment inspection and guarantees good food quality, safety, and efficient operations while saving money in the long term.

5. Educate on Injury Prevention

Following restaurant health safety rules is not only the right thing to do; it's also required by law. To protect the safety of their workers, restaurants are required to abide by regulations set forth by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). From appropriate training on equipment to routine maintenance inspections, these requirements cover a broad spectrum of equipment utilization.

Several repercussions, such as large fines, legal troubles, and in extreme situations, the liquidation of the business, can result from breaking local health rules and OSHA guidelines for restaurants.

Restaurant compliance can be maintained by keeping a restaurant health and safety checklist up to date and adhering to it regularly. Important resources that are a great place to start when drafting a safety plan tailored to a restaurant are the storage best practices and the safety checklist for both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Moreover, work at restaurants is well known for being physically taxing. Teach all employees the right technique for lifting heavy objects (squatting down, bending only at the hips and knees, and lifting by straightening your knees, not your back) to minimize strain. Invest in devices like trolleys and lifting gear that help prevent physical harm.

Encourage more frequent breaks than what is mandated by law (ten minutes of paid rest for every four hours of work in California) in a business where physical labor is so intense to prevent repetitive strain injuries.

Last but not the least - create an accident or injury protocol checklist that’ll be able to guide you and the team in responding effectively to accidents or injuries in various settings.

6. Include Essential Kitchen Safety Practices

You can imagine how painful it can be if you've ever stumbled and fell on a hard floor. A mere slip-and-fall can become a very serious injury when a kitchen full of stoves and knives is present. 

Your primary priorities should be commercial non-skid floor mats and suitable "wet floor" signage for every restaurant area. 

Don't hesitate to place those non-slip mats in any area that is likely to get wet, and make sure that all kitchen walkways are free of supplies and equipment. Similarly, the front of the house should have clear pathways, tables set aside, and easy access to the restrooms and exit.   

Every restaurant faces a different set of difficulties when it comes down to its layout, whether it is related to the bar or the way the kitchen is set up. A sushi restaurant, for example, will have different equipment and safety considerations than a steakhouse that serves BBQ. 

Take the time to evaluate the risks particular to your kitchen’s setup and menu offerings. This might include assessing the proper storage of raw ingredients as highlighted in storage best practices by CPUC or ensuring the safe operation of specialized sushi refrigeration units. 

When putting together your checklist for health and safety in a restaurant, make sure it covers the following:

• Wet Floor Signage
• Regular Inspections
• Clear Walkways
• Kitchen Layout
• Bar and Serving Area Arrangement

7. Emphasize Emergency Preparedness

A restaurant's kitchen can be a haven for creative ideas as well as a dangerous site for mishaps. It is imperative to have an emergency plan in place. It needs to have a full first aid kit, a fire escape strategy, and well-defined first aid protocols.

Of course, a strategy is useless if your employees don't know how to put it into action. Every employee, from the hostess to the chef de cuisine, needs to know where the fire extinguishers and first aid kits are located in addition to other safety protocols. It's critical to frequently lead drills involving your whole workforce.

You should concentrate on the four stages of emergency management—mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery—when creating an emergency plan. An emergency plan should include detailed instructions that can be produced and implemented in an emergency. 

As a restaurant owner or manager, it is essential to have multiple emergency action plan checklists in place, starting from OSHA-compliant plans to emergency fire protocol, for the best handling of emergencies.

8. Educate on Fire Safety

The US local fire department estimates that there are 1.5 million fire dangers in the country each year. 13,250 individuals were hurt, 3790 civilian deaths resulted from this fire hazard, and $18 billion worth of property was ruined. Consider how crucial fire safety is now. 

The commercial kitchen is a busy place. Teaching restaurant employees about proper cleaning and restaurant fire safety is always a good idea. Staff members must sweep the floor, clean all the appliances, and wash them with water to get rid of anything flammable before closing the kitchen or restaurant. 

Establishing an emergency fire safety checklist is essential, and it's usually required by law. Installing smoke detectors, fire suppression systems, extinguishers, and fire alarms throughout your restaurant is the first step. Your fire systems will need to be frequently inspected and tested to make sure they're constantly in working order, so you can't just set it and forget it. 

The routes should never be blocked, and emergency exits should always be prominently marked on both the front and back of the property. The range hood ventilation system includes an exhaust fan and exhaust hood filters. It lets heat, smoke, and smells escape from the cooking area and opens up the inside of the kitchen. Therefore, it should be examined and cleaned every six months.

9. Ensure Proper Chemical Handling

Food and food-related equipment should be kept away from chemicals, which should be labeled and stored correctly. Only trained individuals should handle containers that have been labeled with the common name of the chemical (chlorine, ammonia, iodine). 

When utilizing chemicals, make sure your staff is properly equipped with gloves and, in certain situations, eye protection. Color-coded gloves are frequently used in restaurants for various activities to avoid any confusion. 

10. Floor and Seating Safety

While no restaurant in the world intends to compromise its customers, there may be frequent hazards right in front of your nose. A hot tea mug on an unstable table might easily become dangerous. Examine chairs and tables frequently for any broken parts and overall stability, and replace or repair broken parts right away. 

We enjoy ambient lighting as much as the next person, but there should always be enough light to see where you're going (and what you're eating) without getting confused. When it comes to ensuring successful compliance with social distancing regulations, restaurants are recommended to structure their operations such that they operate as much as possible through outside table service and to rigorously limit indoor table service.

Maintain a 6-foot or greater distance between each person (employees, suppliers, and clients) unless the nature of the activity or the way the workspace is set up poses a safety risk.

Assign work zones to servers, for example, to restrict employee movement within the restaurant and minimize interpersonal contact. Opt for scheduling staff meals and breaks in between work hours, and limit the number of individuals in one location.

5 Free Restaurant Health Safety Inspection Checklists 

• ADA Compliance Checklist
• Food Safety Compliance Checklist
• Server Training Checklist
• Kitchen Safety Checklist
• Kitchen Deep Cleaning Checklist

Best Practices to Keep in Mind When Creating a Restaurant Health Safety Checklist

Record Keeping

Records and routine inspections are essential in the restaurant industry since they reliably document past occurrences and food delivery. The best practice is to date food and rotate stocks frequently to ensure that the product is always fresh and useable.

Before a restaurant health safety inspection, you should obtain documentation of your present food safety procedures. For this reason, it's advisable to begin keeping records on the first day of operation.

Best practices for food preparation require that all food items have their cooking and reheating temperatures clearly labeled and visible.

Remember that food must be stored at temperatures below 41 degrees Fahrenheit and heated above 140 degrees Fahrenheit to be deemed safe and bacteria-free. Your documentation should comprise of:

• An inventory of the areas cleaned, the cleaners' names, and the cleaning supplies used
• Food delivery invoices and documentation, together with dates
• The refrigerator and display cabinet's respective temperatures
• Warming, chilling, and reheating temperatures
• Dates for disposing of the items that need to be thrown away
• Every product's traceability - from the place of origin to the point of sale.

The traceability of each product is something that you, as a restaurant owner, must monitor. To be reviewed during the inspection, the plan is to keep a record for the whole period that the products are being stored.

Training Your Staff

Adherence to restaurant health safety rules is crucial, as the food standards agency has the power to shut down your establishment in the event of any violations.

As a restaurant owner, it is legally your responsibility to make sure that the way your staff handles, serves, and stores food complies with food safety regulations. Consequently, Food Safety Awareness and Food Hygiene Training are the two minimum food safety courses that your staff members must do.

Supervisors of restaurants need to take the Supervising Food Safety course as well. This not only increases your compliance but also enables you to obtain restaurant insurance and makes your workplace safer for both customers and staff.

Public liability insurance protects you from legal risks while team training keeps you compliant with the law.

Develop Standard Operating Procedures

It is a reasonable addition to your organizational standards and procedures to make sure that your kitchen SOP (standard operating procedures) includes the minimal checks for legal requirements and other parts of H&S. The cleanliness of restaurants is a crucial component of the establishment's key infrastructure and is contingent upon the safety and quality standards incorporated into your procedures.

You might want to consider using digital restaurant health and safety inspection software for your planned inspections if you want to leverage strong data analytics. 

Audit Regularly To Identify Deficiencies

As we have already stated, it is essential to conduct a complete restaurant health and safety inspection to comply with acceptable criteria for your operation. However, maintaining cleanliness when a restaurant first opens is only one strategy to maximize its potential. A well-run restaurant follows rigid guidelines while preparing its inspection reports.

Among the team's regular tasks should be regular audits of the restaurant's cleanliness and level of service. Likewise, examining these reports is just as important for developing mitigation plans. Using a digitalized platform that helps automating routine audits and inspections can take off the managerial load to a great extent.

Implement Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)

Hazard identification and control in food manufacturing processes can be done methodically with the help of HACCP. To guarantee food safety, putting HACCP concepts into practice aids in locating crucial control points, setting up monitoring protocols, and implementing corrective measures. Using HACCP rules can help restaurants improve their overall food safety procedures.

In addition to improving food safety, implementing HACCP principles can also enhance operational efficiency and build customer trust. By systematically identifying and addressing potential hazards, restaurants can reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses and minimize waste caused by spoilage or contamination.

Furthermore, demonstrating a commitment to rigorous safety standards can boost the restaurant's reputation and provide a competitive edge in the market. Adopting HACCP guidelines not only ensures compliance with regulatory requirements but also fosters a culture of excellence and accountability in food handling practices. Consider investing in a HACCP software that streamlines end-to-end food safety management.

Leverage Technology 

Look for comprehensive software that acts as a single-pane-of-glass for all your restaurant health safety needs. 

With built-in customized functionality, Xenia is a mobile-first operation execution platform that enables restaurants to complete tasks and checklists promptly while on the go.

With Xenia, you're not just centralizing everything, including front-end customer service and Back of House (BOH) restaurant operations, but you're also increasing accountability, which will ultimately impact your bottom line. But how?

You can create personalized checklists and SOPs, inspections, logbooks, surveys, agendas for meetings, and more using the comprehensive features of Xenia. To make work easier to understand and to collect important information like time stamps, comments, images, and more, attach these to tasks and work orders.

Conditional logic is integrated into every step of Xenia's operations template builder. This enables you to initiate activities based on a form response, like letting management know about out-of-range temperature readings and initiating a remedial action for a failed inspection step, among many other things.

‍Xenia's live temperature sensors can send out alerts, ask follow-up questions, and take appropriate action as soon as the reading goes outside of range. Xenia employs temperature sensors that use Bluetooth and LoRaWAN technology to send data to your Xenia account. With an accuracy of +/- 0.4°C, the monitors operate constantly in a temperature range of 40°C to 125°C. 

This ensures that problems are detected before the food supply is compromised. With our reports and analytics feature users can ensure that all the data in Xenia is securely stored in the cloud, and when you require it to view historical data and trends; simply, filter by asset, location, category, or due date and export the report in PDF or Excel.

Xenia is all you need to put your restaurant's health safety strategy in perspective. So why wait? Give it a try today in your restaurant and find out what digital reporting efficiency is.

Book a demo today!

Final Thoughts

Often considered  a burden, restaurant health safety plays an important role in the hospitality sector because there is always a chance that customers as well as staff members could be in danger. Reaching a 5-star rating on a food hygiene inspection should be easy if you adhere to the guidelines mentioned above as well as additional best practices. This is critical to maintaining the competitive advantage of your restaurant and attracting business.

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FAQs

What is a restaurant health and safety checklist?

A restaurant health and safety checklist is a tool used to assess a workplace's compliance with pertinent laws and regulations.

Why do you need a restaurant health and safety checklist?

Restaurant managers and employees can stay on top of their to-do lists, which include serving guests, maintaining cleanliness, and opening and closing procedures, by using a checklist. This straightforward method guarantees that every critical task is completed correctly, reduces errors, and improves the efficiency of the restaurant.

Why do we need a food safety checklist?

A checklist for a food safety inspection makes sure that everything is done in the kitchen in accordance with regulations. Use it to verify that appropriate food storage and disposal practices are followed in order to prevent cross-contamination and other food dangers that could endanger both your clients and staff.

What is the biggest safety concern in a restaurant?

• Injuries from objects
• Slips, trips, and falls
• Burns
• Overexertion injuries
• Chemicals/cleaners
• Electrical
• Cold temperatures

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