Health and safety conditions of workers in restaurant and catering places

Aim: Aim of this study is to estimate the conditions of hygiene and safety under which the personnel of restaurant and catering businesses works and also their effect in the health. Material and method: Τhe sample of the study consisted of 120 workers in restaurant and catering businesses in the Santorini island. The data was collected with anonymous questionnaire and it included individual demographic elements and elements about workers health and safety. Results: From the workers that answered the 62.5% were men and the 37.5% were women. The 28.8% were food handlers, 40.8% waiters, 6.8% employees of cleanness, 0.8% cashiers and 22.9% directors. The 61.7% were seasonally occupied persons. The experience of the workers in similar work places was until one year 20.3%, 1-5 years 31.4%, 6-10 years 17.8% and above 10 years 30.5%. The 56.7% of the participants didn’t know about the dangers against their health and safety that comes from their work and the 30.3% declare that they had accident during their work time. The 43.5% of workers are informed about the dangers for the health and the safety at their work mainly by their employers. Heavy objects or charges transport: often the 30%, sometimes the 50.8% and never the 19.2%. Contact with chemical materials as e.g. detergents, disinfectant, insecticides at the implementation of work often declare the 30.8% and sometimes the 36.7% of the participants. Falls or slips at the work reports 1-3 times 28.6% and 4-5 times 0.8%. In case of fire the 57.8% answered that they have been trained and know what they will do, the 41.4% declared that they will react instinctively and the 0.9% did not know what to do. The work environment causes stress: often for the 24.4% of the participants and sometimes for the 39.5% them. Conclusions: The workers in the restaurant and catering business don’t know about the dangers that they face in their work and this means lack of education programs in occupational safety and health. Also it seems that the workers don’t have access to the informing from specialists in occupation safety and health since they declare that they are informed about the dangers for the health and the safety at their work mainly by their employers.

Keywords: Occupational health and safety, food handlers, restaurant and catering business