Making sure that your kitchen is a safe place is at the top of any church’s priorities. Here are a few simple steps to take to make sure that your kitchen stays safe to use.

Get a Risk Assessment
It can sound like a scary concept, but a risk assessment really isn’t the intrusive process a lot of people think it is. A risk assessment – for general safety and fire safety – is the best way to assess any potential risks to the people using your kitchen. With a professional risk assessment, you can feel confident that you have done your best to ensure your kitchen is a safe place to work and prevent avoidable accidents.

A fire risk assessment is particularly important, especially if your kitchen is entirely new to the building: knowing that the new kitchen is covered by the right fire precautions will give you peace of mind.

Read more about fire safety in your church kitchen here.

Food safety review
General food safety is usually a matter of common sense, but even if your kitchen is only used for internal church events it’s a good idea to make sure that those people using the kitchen have a basic Level 2 food safety certificate, available online. It’s worthwhile holding an informal review into food safety standards at your church regularly, to make sure that everyone is taking responsibility for maintaining food safety standards.

If your kitchen is hired by third parties, you could request that they have basic food training. You could also issue a ‘food safety’ information pack to make sure that basic requirements are met. Helpful signs and information in the kitchen (for instance, laminated guidelines stored in the cupboards).

For commercial kitchens (for instance, if you run a commercial café from the kitchen) you’ll need to maintain more formal safety standards – see our notes on commercial regulations here.

PAT test your appliances (or replace old electricals)
Faulty electricals are a prominent cause of fires in the UK. While it’s not actually compulsory to have your electrical goods PAT tested every year, the law does state that you need to keep electrical equipment in good working order. Take a good look at your kitchen appliances and gadgets and if they have seen better days, it might be worth getting them PAT tested by a professional.

Alternatively, you might want to look into replacing them as part of renovations. This link provides a helpful overview of electrical safety in your church kitchen

Steelplan Kitchens offer a free consultation service and can incorporate certain safety measures – such as effective layout – into your kitchen planning. To find out more about how Steelplan Kitchens’ experienced design team can help you create the perfect space for your church, call us on 0844 809 9186.