If you are a business in the hospitality industry, the safety of your customers and staff is paramount.
That is why you should make every effort to ensure your operation protects them from the possibility of harm across every reasonable scenario.
In this post, we’ll take a look at six important measures every hospitality business should employ.
If you cover your bases, it goes a long way towards running a venue that offers safe working conditions for your staff and a pleasant environment for your customers to enjoy.
What businesses are included in the hospitality industry
Before we reveal the safety tips, it’s worth confirming what we mean by a hospitality business.
In Australia, the hospitality industry is one of the country’s largest employers, with a total workforce of over 946,000 people in February 2023.
Overall, the industry comprises companies that work within the sectors of food and beverage, travel and tourism, accommodation, and entertainment and recreation.
In 2023, the total annual revenue for this industry was a mind-blowing $64 billion.
Top safety tips
If your business operates within the hospitality industry, here are some top safety tips you should employ.
- Have clear signage advising of potential dangers
It is the nature of working in the hospitality business that you will have equipment that has the potential to cause significant harm in a worst-case scenario.
This includes hazardous liquids such as flammable liquids, cleaning chemicals such as bleach and other chemicals that could do significant harm if they are ingested by or come into contact with humans.
For this reason, it is important to store these items as safely as possible, for instance, in fireproof containers. Additionally, you should advise staff and customers of this potential through the use of clear signage for dangerous good storage containers you might have on your premises.
If you do this, you will greatly reduce the risks of accidents and unfortunate events.
- Maintain a fire evacuation plan
Unfortunately, workplace fires are quite common in Australia – there were over 5000 claims in 2019.
In addition to safely storing flammable liquids, every business in the hospitality industry should have an emergency fire action plan in place in case one breaks out.
It is important to train your employees and perform regular fire alarm drills to ensure they are aware of the best practices for evacuating the building during an emergency situation.
Additionally, make sure they are aware of any major incendiary power sources that should be turned off now to prevent further damage.
- Make yourself aware of how to deal with food allergies
If your hospitality business serves food, you need to ensure you have a set process in place to prevent food allergies from being triggered within your customers.
This should involve clearly identifying the ingredients used to make a dish on your menus and advising if they are suitable for those with specific intolerances, such as gluten and dairy.
You should also have steps in place to prevent food cross-contamination, which could trigger allergies or other issues, such as salmonella poisoning.
Should the worst happen, and a customer has an allergic reaction to something they have eaten at your venue, it is vital to know the best way to deal with it. Here is some more information you might find useful.
- Reduce the potential for slips, trips and falls
In any hospitality business, there are plenty of areas where there is the potential to slip, trip and fall. This could happen anywhere from kitchens and hotel lobbies to getting on and off buses or at specific tourist sites.
It is important to immediately clean up spillages or wet patches on floors, especially in hotels with high foot traffic areas, that could cause people to slip. Having signs advising that cleaning is in progress is a good idea, too.
It is also worth installing railings on steps and taking other measures to protect your staff and customers from these types of hazards.
- Properly Maintain and Use Equipment
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, over 497,300 people had a work-related injury or accident in the financial year of 2021-22. Many of these were related to equipment not being properly maintained or used.
For this reason, it is important to regularly clean and maintain all equipment to ensure it works as efficiently as possible.
You should also regularly train your staff, especially new staff, on how to use them and empower them to let management know as soon as something doesn’t start to work properly.
- Make staff take regular breaks
The hospitality business can be very fast-paced and high-octane for those who work in it. Therefore, your staff must have regular breaks to refresh themselves mentally and physically.
At the same time, you should also avoid asking staff to work unusually long shifts or days in a row.
By doing this, you will reduce the risk of errors and accidents caused by tiredness, lack of concentration, or stress.