Whether you are working in a commercial kitchen or your personal kitchen, maintaining a safe environment in the kitchen is important to avoid different types of unwanted harm. We tend to overlook the dangers in the kitchen. If you don’t maintain the cleanliness of your kitchen, a lot of diseases can spread out. Along with this, accidents may also occur in the kitchen from sharp knives, excessive heat, etc.
Personal protective equipment or PPE helps you to avoid unwanted accidents and keep yourself safe in the kitchen. Let’s take a look at the below list of some necessary personal protective equipment that you should use in the kitchen to maintain safety.
- Apron:
Spills are common in the kitchen. This is why your clothes can be stained by food color, tea, coffee, soups, juices, etc. Wearing an apron will not only shield your clothes from stains but also protect you from getting wounded by hot liquids. You can also freely move your arms while wearing an apron.
- Oven Gloves:
As kitchenware, such as pans and pots are good conductors of heat, you can not move them with your bare hands when the kitchenware is hot. Oven gloves will protect your hands while moving hot plates, pans, or pots. Therefore, wearing an oven glove can prevent your hands from occurring burns and brushes.
- Hairnet:
Isn’t it gross to find hair in your food? Therefore, to maintain hygiene and prevent hair to come in contact with food, it is really important to wear hairnets. Wearing hairnets is not only important for people with long hair but also for people with short hair. Even though hair does not pose any serious threat to your health while eaten as hair consists of a protein named keratin, it can be dangerous due to exposure to chemicals, such as oils, dyes, gels, shampoos, conditioners, sprays, etc. If you swallow a hair, it may also puncture the mucous membrane. Sometimes, staphylococcus bacteria on hair can cause stomach issues. Therefore, you should cover up your hair while cooking food. You should also use beard snoods to prevent loose hairs of your beard to contaminate food.
- Cleaning Gloves:
Maintaining the cleanliness of your kitchen is necessary to save you and your family from diseases and food poisoning. To clean your kitchen, you have to wash dishes, dispose garbage, wipe the floor and the counter. You can not clean your kitchen your bare hands, because your kitchen can be the home for various harmful bacteria. So, if you expose your hands to bacteria, you may invite harmful diseases to your body.
For this reason, it is better to wear gloves while cleaning the kitchen. You can either wear single use plastic disposable gloves or reusable gloves that are better for environment. Both these gloves will prevent bacteria to come in contact with your hands. You can also use them in water and clean them for further use.
- Footwear:
The floor of a kitchen can be very slippery sometimes due to accidental water spills. This is why you need to wear no-slip footwear to prevent slipping and falling on the floor. You can get a serious injury from a minor fall. Therefore, you should always wear a shoe with rough sole to prevent slips and falls.
Why is PPE Necessary in the Kitchen?
If you are working in a commercial kitchen, you know how busy and loud can be the environment of the kitchen. Personal protective equipment will reduce the risks of getting injured and prevent major injuries. While in a commercial kitchen, employees are at a high risk of injuring themselves, protective equipment can lessen the possibility of getting hurt.
Similarly, your home kitchen is also a place where various types of accidents can occur. A little mistake can cause severe injury. Protective equipment not only saves you and your family from getting hurt but also prevents the spreading of diseases. Therefore, you should always take precautions and use PPE in the kitchen.
Wrap UP
Even though we can not prevent every injury, we can improve the safety in our kitchen by wearing Personal protective equipment. Whether you are working in a commercial kitchen or preparing food in your home, you should wear PPE to keep yourself, your customers, and your family safe from injuries and diseases.
