HOTEL KITCHENS: TEMPERATURE AND TEMPER HOT- PART 1

If you are in the Food and Beverage business, you will hopefully not make a fuss about my choice to label these discussions ‘hotel kitchens'.

There are many different types of kitchens (not referring to kitchen layouts):open and enclosed kitchens, commercial, institutional and domestic kitchens. Each of these is further influenced by the size of the facility or volume of production, type of menu and the type of service. It can be messy to lump them, so I am 'playing safe’ to focus on hotel kitchens. Even with these, there are variations; hopefully the ‘water will not be muddied’.  

Once this has been cleared we should have a common understanding of the basis of the views expressed below.

If there is any operational area in a hotel which is HOT HOT, it is the hotel kitchen. It is 'temperature hot' and 'temper hot', consequently hotel kitchens are both mentally and physically draining to work in. 

The hotel kitchen is OUT OF BOUNDS for non food and beverage employees and it is also referred to as ‘back-of-house’, meaning, not for the public eye. Most of us may begin to wonder what level of cleanliness to expect.  To dispel your fears, hotel kitchens are more likely to be kept more clean than kitchens of stand-alone restaurants, especially here in Ghana.

Being professional kitchens, hotel kitchens are heavily equipped with commercial equipment; flat tops, freezers, walk-in refrigerators, salamanders/grills, deep fryers, rotisseries , deck ovens, plate warmers, bread warmers, dishwashers and many others, all of which contribute to the heat in the kitchen.  In Ghana, system failures creating smoke, grease and odors; kitchen design and finish may all contribute to the heat. Then there are the activities of sautéing, reducing, roasting searing and even blanching, albeit brief and how about poaching? I guess I could make an argument if I am desperate. 

The Heat Hazard

 

Workers can suffer heat stress unaware of what it is and/or what its long term effects are. Unfortunately, as a people, our attitude towards hazards are generally casual. When a hazard occurs, there is the usual panic accompanied by a feeling of helplessness. I am yet to hear about workers suing a hotel for a poor work environment. Over a short period, the incident is forgotten and no progress is made to curtail the problem(s).

 

In educating employees on the hazards of working in our 'temperature hot' kitchens, they must be able to:

1. Identify signs/symptoms of heat-related illnesses: Dehydration, exhaustion, fainting, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke 
2. Relate factors that affect a person’s sensitivity to heat (age, weight and types of medication) to themselves 
3. Commit themselves to personal responsibilities in avoiding heat stress 
4. Apply strategies for preventing heat stress: including reduction of physical demands, alternating work and rest periods and fluid replacement. 
5. First aid should be a must for all professional kitchen employees. 

This discussion continues in Part 2 with the aspect of  hotel kitchens as 'temper hot'.