Pizza Today - June 2018 - 40

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initial fines of more than $40,000, plus
the cost of the injured employee's medical
care and loss of income.
SICKNESS

EMERGENCY!
EMERGENCY PLANS

S TO R Y D A N CO LLI E R

P H OTO RI CK D A UGHE RT Y

W

hat happens when the
pepperoni hits the fan?
When natural disaster
hits, or some ethically challenged person
wants the contents of the cash drawer or
someone in your pizzeria needs medical
assistance, what is your plan?
EVERY PIZZERIA NEEDS AN EMERGENCY
PLAN. If you have 20 or more employees,

it's the law. The Occupational Safety and
Health Administration (OSHA) is the
agency tasked with enforcement. If you
have less than 20 employees, a written
emergency plan may still be required by
your state.
The essence of emergency planning
revolves around injury - how to avoid
injury and what to do if injury occurs, for
your employees and your customers. Here
are areas to address in your emergency
plan:
q Restaurant facilities
q Sickness
q Delivery drivers
q Criminals and trespassers

4 0 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / J U N E 2 0 1 8

What do you do
when disaster
strikes?

q Mother Nature
An emergency plan has two goals:
avoid injury and act if an injury occurs.
RESTAURANT FACILITIES

* Slips and falls. Restaurant floors get
wet. To avoid slipping, each employee
must report to work wearing slip-resistant
shoes. I recommend an employee-of-themonth incentive program that rewards
new slip-resistant shoes. Wet-floor signs
are used to alert both employees and
customers to walk carefully. Wet-floor
signs and non-slip carpeted mats for the
doorways should be standard equipment.
* Equipment. The biggest challenge
for pizzerias is when equipment breaks.
Often, to repair it you will need a
service technician or a new part. Do not
operate equipment that is broken. Use
another method of preparation until
the equipment is repaired. It may cost
hundreds or even thousands to repair, but
that price pales in comparison to the cost
of injury. In some states, allowing broken
equipment to remain in use can lead to

* Employees working while ill.
We are constantly faced with a dilemma
in our industry. An employee is sick,
but we do not have a replacement. Our
responsibility is for food safety first. That
means that no employee with stomach
illness or flu symptoms may come in
contact with food. Although it will affect
service, you must send them home to
protect others.
* Food poisoning. You have read the
stories of people becoming violently
sick, permanently disabled or even dying
from food poisoning. Every employee
should have passed a food-safety class.
Handwashing, cross-contamination, food
temperature safety and product rotation
should all be daily conversations in your
pizzeria. "Cold food cold" (40 F or lower)
and "Hot food hot" (140 F or higher) is
both a matter of procedures and working
refrigeration and heating equipment.
DELIVERY DRIVERS

* Accidents. The largest workers'
compensation claims are due to delivery
driver accidents. Require all drivers to
provide motor vehicle reports showing
safe driving records before they begin
work. Your non-owned auto insurance
company should conduct regular checks
(called "pulls") on your drivers records to
verify they remain safe drivers.
CRIMINALS AND TRESPASSERS

* Robbery. Although more and more
customers use digital forms of payment,
we still deal in cash. The robber doesn't
know if there is $20 or $500 in the cash
register or the driver's pocket until after
the deed is done. Operational procedures
that transfer cash from both to a safe that
cannot be opened by the crew, with signs
indicating this, is a best practice. Security
cameras in the pizzeria are a must.
* Trespassers. Your responsibility is
to your employees and your customers.
Restrict restroom use to only your
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Pizza Today - June 2018

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