Restaurant grease bins and employee safety
Restaurants are active, busy places, and keeping the grease bin safe is not on anyone’s mind. However, keeping employees safe is always top of mind. One does think of a grease bin being a safety issue but it certainly can be.
And if your grease bin sits out back or on the side of your restaurant, a great many customers will see it as they enter your restaurant. You wouldn’t want them to see a dirty grease bin surrounded by spilled grease.
What would they think? Uh, let’s keep driving and look for another restaurant?
If you want to keep your grease bin safe and customers happy here’s how to do it.
How To keep your restaurant employees safe
Make sure your grease bin is easily accessible. Place it close to the kitchen and be sure there is a clear and easy path from the kitchen . Hauling cooking oil over a path full of obstacles like steps and broken glass will insure that oil ends up on the sidewalk, the kitchen floor or the parking lot or the grass. Worse yet, an employee may end up slipping or falling in the same spot.Then, insurance claims, medical bills, workman’s comp and headaches.
How to put the oil in the grease bin
While seemingly obvious it bears restating. Lift the lid, ensure there is room to pour—and pour carefully—through the grate. Make sure you are pouring only used cooking oil and not waste water or food scraps.. Pouring things other than cooking oil will contaminate your oil, cost your UCO collector money and possibly prevent you from getting a rebate. The bin is for used cooking oil and only used cooking oil.
After you pour the oil, wipe down the lid, the grate and the side of the bin. Oil can harden quickly with a drop in temperature and block the next attempted disposal causing spills. Oil running down the side of the bin will make for slips and falls on future trips.
Close the lid-keep the water out
It sounds insulting but just like the bathroom, don’t forget to close the lid. Leaving it open allows rainwater and other contaminants in, which might prevent cost-effective recycling of the oil into biodiesel fuel.Lots of water makes it difficult to filter the oil, remove the water and ready it for processing into biodiesel fuel.
The Easy way to handle a spill
Invariably spills will occur, both in the kitchen and outside. Keep a bag of kitty litter on-hand to soak up the spill immediately after it occurs. Leaving oil on the floor or sidewalk is a invitation for disaster and possibly a lawsuit. Slips, burns and falls cost restaurants $12B each year.
Why you should automate used cooking oil handling
The best solution, if you have the space, is to get an indoor system.
enclose the entire system and eliminate the trips to the bin and all of the risks. With a direct connect system, or a caddy to transfer oil your employees never have to handle hot oil again. The safest and easiest solution is a completely enclosed cooking oil system. ReGrease has numerous automated and manual solutions to fit your kitchen. We can provide the virgin oil and keep it contained until we pick-up the used cooking oil.Check out our easy low-tech option here.
Call ReGrease today to discuss your options
888-475-6057