Workplace Injuries of Foodservice Workers: Time to Revisit OSHA Exemption for Recordkeeping

Foodservice employers are currently exempt from recording workplace injuries and illnesses as required by the OSHA Recordkeeping Standard. Data to be presented about foodservice workers in hotels provides a window into what the injury experience may be for foodservice workers in non-hotel worksites. Using OSHA 300 log information, injuries were documented to cooks, kitchen workers, dishwashers, stewards and banquet servers. The study period covered 2003 to 2005 for full-service hotels. Descriptive data was expanded upon from existing dataset, using Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) terminology, to include nature of injury, source of injury and event exposure. Restricted days and days away from work injury data will also be presented. This study will help identify the leading types of injuries and their causes for these job titles and suggest possible solutions. Study findings will be compared to BLS data. Discussion of the need to revisit OSHA's exemption of this industry from the recordkeeping requirements will be part of this presentation.