Going out to your favorite restaurant is a special treat, but have you ever stopped to think about the folks who are back in the kitchen preparing your food? What is a typical night for them like?
Working in a commercial kitchen at a restaurant can be equal parts exhilarating and stressful, but it can also leave a chef or kitchen worker in a lot of pain from an injury sustained while in the course of their job. These injuries can range from mild to severe, but can often be considered a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim that needs to be filed with the kitchen workers’ supervisor.
There are a variety of injuries that can occur when someone is working in the kitchen, but we’re going to focus on a couple of the more common ones. These are the types of injuries that are seen in many restaurant kitchens around the state and lead to time away from work for these workers.
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Burns. One of the most common and often mild injuries that occur in a kitchen is someone getting burned. When work is hectic and stressful and being done around a hot stove or grill it is not surprising that burns can occur. While many burns that occur in a kitchen can be mild there are certainly times when they can become severe like in the case of burns from splattering grease when they might require time away from work and medical attention.
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Lacerations. When preparing food or garnishes chefs and other kitchen workers are often working with knives. These knives are generally a lot sharper then those that you would find in an ordinary kitchen and they can cause severe injuries if they are not used safely and effectively by the kitchen staff. A laceration can lead to the need for stitches or worse an amputation of some sort. The severity of the injury may also lead to the need for time away from work.
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Slips, trips and falls. With waiters and waitresses running in and out of the kitchen to make sure food gets brought out in a timely manner and gets to the table warm, there can be a lot of motion in a kitchen which could lead someone to get tripped up and fall injuring themselves or someone around them. These types of accidents again, result in mild injuries, but in rare occasions they can lead to serious injuries for the person who trips or slips.
You may not always think about the situation in the kitchen when you go out for a nice dinner, but it can get quite busy and stressful. Adding to that stress is the threat of an injury from all of the running around that is being done. While you may not think of the kitchen of a restaurant as the first place when you think of workplace injuries, they are home to quite a few injuries that can be serious and lead to a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim and time away from work.
If you work in a kitchen at a restaurant and have experienced an injury you may need to speak with one of our board certified workers’ compensation attorneys. Contact our office and one of our attorneys will speak with you about your particular situation and work with you to protect your long-term interests.
