How We Will Promote Safe Cook in Kitchen?

Ashraful Kabir

Department of Biology, Saidpur Cantonment Public College, Nilphamari, Bangladesh

*Correspondence to: Dr. Ashraful Kabir, Department of Biology, Saidpur Cantonment Public College, Nilphamari, Bangladesh.

Copyright © 2019 Dr. Ashraful Kabir. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Services in Kitchen

Job as a Cook
In any institution or organization lots of cooks are appointed. Their main duties are to serve food for the people. During the cleaning of dishes most of the time they clean with water. Though they dry their both hands after washing any appliances but sometimes mainly in winter season or for sensitive skin they may affect skin disease mainly rash and fungal infection. Those problems are not more serious. As foreigners come in international restaurant so that their total management is outstanding. They have special degree on hotel/restaurant management.

Service Holder Female
These females are suffered such problems too. But for their education they are well known on safety measures in kitchen. When they cut vegetables and fruits and wash by the water their hands are become wet. After this they get dry their hands quickly for safety.

Complete Housewife
Completely illiterate housewife is rare in Bangladesh nowadays. They have minimum knowledge on safely cooking. In fact, they are habituated or experienced in the kitchen so that they are passing more or less good health. Sometimes, they complain with some skin rashes and itching but those are not fatal.

Personal Hygiene
All members who were related with cook their personal hygiene found good. Their overall wearing cloth and skin were fresh. When they get their job for cooking, the expert tests their general knowledge about personal hygiene.

Common Injuries
Some skin diseases like rash, itching, allergy, eczema, ringworm were less found in kitchen during cooking. Some females or males who work in kitchen and if they have sensitive skin then their skin is easily affected but practically this incident was few. In our kitchen, we put knife for cutting hard food materials. In abroad, they use machine in this case. Electronic devices are good for time saving in kitchen. On the other hand, for handling those machines in kitchens we should take training. In Bangladesh, without boiling or cooking we do not take maximum food items. Hot flashes are very harmful for the eye and pollution in kitchen. In some residential areas, kitchens have no proper ventilation. If we provide more manpower in kitchen, everybody may take rest within their cooking. In any modern residences, now the floor of those kitchens is covered by tiles. This is normally slippery and if we sweep this floor by soap water it will be more slippery. Safety measures in the kitchen and knowledge on cooking then the kitchen will be a safe place either female or male.

Health Hazards for Cooking in Workplace and House
Commercial food service establishments are an important service sector all over the world. The food service industry always carries large number of workers. Eating out has emerged as a trend in most people at least once a month. Now people are spending more money in the world of fast foods and restaurants. Many hazardous works in commercial place can influence various injuries of the family members. There are many risks and hazards are found in restaurants. Actually these occupational injuries are ignored always for national and international interest. Poor indoor ventilation is the major cause of hot environment in the kitchen. The cooks were actively involved in kitchen with pressure cooking, boiling, frying, roasting, baking, cutting, blending and turning food and transferring hot food. Majority experienced burns by coming in contact with hot substances while transferring hot food items from cooking pot. Wrist and shoulder stiffness were common due to repetitive motion. Slips and falls due to slippery floor in the kitchen, spillage of food, cuts and lacerations where the worker is struck by knives and direct exposure to heat and electric shock due to bad electrical setup. Nearly half of all burn injuries were happened by hot oil. Housewives who were involved with cooking in kitchen they spent 8 - 12 hours on an average on daily basis throughout the year without any few break. Accidents from the exposure to direct heat from the oven and electrical shocks were life threatening. Personal protective equipment, space design layout, designed tools and products aimed at injury prevention in kitchen. A report showed that for unhygienic cooking system at the roadside restaurants, most of the workers in Bangladesh may carry lots of cyst of worms in their stool (personal communication).

Discussion
For the hot oil and cooking vessels in the kitchen 24% incidents may happen. Cooks in the commercial kitchens were identified as an occupational group with high risk of occupational injury and illness [1]. Due to the demand of supply of food the workers employed in this industry [2]. Typical injuries reported musculoskeletal injuries, cuts, lacerations, scalds, burns, and eye injuries [3]. The leading causes of accidents in commercial kitchens are slips and trips, manual handling of heavy loads, exposure to hot surfaces with steam, injured while moving components and hot vessels and hand tools, exposure to direct fire and electrical shock [4]. In addition, health hazards in commercial kitchens included exposure to allergens, irritants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in temperature extremes, smoke, cooking, fumes, noise, overcrowding, stress an unhealthy life style and unsociable working hours [5]. It is a fundamental human right to return home safe from work [6]. Such injuries can be prevented by providing handles for tools and utensils, appropriate gloves, allowing oil to cool before it is moved. Repetitive work done by arms and hands would be combined with a constrained trunk posture including cooking, dish washing which could create main ergonomic work load for the cooks together with frequent lifting and handling of objects, and frequent bending of the trunk [7]. It was found from this study that contributes to 18% of accidents among cooks and 4% suffered with shoulder stiffness due to continuous stirring, tossing and turning foods. It is important to use slip-resistant floor materials and to keep floors dry and well [8]. The probability for injuries from knives are particularly very high for those who are not properly trained [9]. Commercial kitchens use many types of equipment like food processors, choppers, slicers, grinders, and mixers have moving parts that must be guarded because of their risky motions. Machine guarding injuries in commercial kitchens include cuts, bruises, burns, amputations, and strangulation [6]. Some improvement options include rearranging workstations providing training employees, limiting the moving of heavy loads, calling a co-worker for help, and using better tools. Good lighting in work areas also helps in preventing accidents and injuries [10,11]. Research findings reveal that promptly lowering body temperature of a person from heat exhaustion may lead brain damage [12]. It was an alarming that 3% of the cooks reported to have experienced electric shocks due to electrical cords with loose contact to plugs and faulty wiring for the equipment [1].

Conclusions
In kitchen, hot oil and cooking vessels are dangerous. Commercial kitchens were identified as an occupational group with high risk of some injuries with musculoskeletal, cuts, lacerations, burns, and eye irritation. In addition, health hazards in commercial kitchens include exposure to allergens, smoke, noise, and overcrowding. It is important to use slip-resistant floor materials in the kitchen. For cutting vegetable, fruit, fish, and meat knife is used but it needs proper training. Machine guarding related injuries in commercial kitchens include cuts, bruises, burns, and shock and in house kitchen these are not available. Rearranging the equipments, limiting heavy objects, provide helping hands may reduce such kitchen related health hazards. Faulty plugs of electric appliances may create fatal incidents in kitchen so that we should give special emphasis on it.

Recommendations

Finally, if we want to overcome above bad incidences on health in kitchen we should -

1. A service holder woman will appoint a maid-servant for her assistance.
2. After cutting raw materials in kitchen cook will soak their hands in antifungal water. During the cutting of fish or meat should use thick hand gloves.
3. In kitchen, always keep a clean towel, tissue paper, and cotton for drying both hands.
4. Give some gaps between cooking for avoiding monotonous situation.
5. In order to eliminate some incidents family member can go to outside for dinner in a week.
6. In Bangladesh, mainly females are habituated to cook food in the kitchen so they need knowledge on safe cooking and personal hygiene. Same rules will be applicable if there is a male cook.
7. Smart woman/housewife will be smart in safe cooking by her own dedication.
8. For taking lots of pain in kitchen cook/wife cannot express their good behave to her husband/children always. If a husband helps to his wife in kitchen, possible to maintain any unwanted health hazards.
9. Raw and dry food items can be the alternative of cooking food. These items are good at breakfast and evening snacks.
10. In any off day, parents and their children can enjoy cook food in kitchen. Through this act other members can know how to cook safe food in kitchen.

Bibliography

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11. Safety on the job is Everyone’s Business.
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