Managing the risk associated with hot liquids and steam in kitchens

29 April 2021

The Health and Safety Inspectorate would like to remind the hospitality and catering Industry of the risks and consequences of accidents in the kitchen involving contact with hot liquids or steam.

The Inspectorate has investigated several accidents recently where the consequences have unfortunately been significant and potentially life changing.

The photograph was taken after a kitchen worker inadvertently dropped a pot of hot oil whilst cleaning a deep fat fryer. He slipped on the oil and landed with both arms immersed in the pool of oil.

The temperature of the oil, measured when the ambulance arrived, was 85 degrees. The severity of the injuries required the individual to be flown off Island for specialist assessment at Salisbury Burns Department. The injured employee is keen to raise awareness of the potential consequences of not waiting for the oil to cool before cleaning the appliance, which he had done entirely in an attempt to be helpful and knowing that this went against the company policy and cleaning procedures for such equipment. Whilst he was simply trying to be helpful, he unfortunately experienced the serious consequence as a result. 

Warning contains graphic imagery of injury: burns image reproduced with permission of injured person.

Cooking oil

Dangers associated with hot cooking oil are a particular concern. Due to its high boiling point and high viscosity oil burns will tend to cause a significant amount of soft tissue damage and therefore increase the consequences of any accident. In addition, oil takes only 6 to 7 minutes to heat up but can take 6 to 7 hours to cool down again.

Manual emptying and filtering of fryers should only be carried out when the oil has cooled to 40C or below.

A written procedure must be developed to act as a reminder and reference to staff for both draining and cleaning operations involving cooking appliance that utilise oil. This will support the required level of instruction and training needed to ensure anybody carrying out these tasks is fully aware of risks and how to carry out the tasks safely.

Further guidance

The safe use of emptying and cleaning of fryers on the UK HSE website