Restaurant Safety Killer™ #1: LOT™

Watch an experienced restaurant employee during a busy shift and you'll probably see something remarkable. 

They barely have to think about what they're doing.

A server picks up several plates and heads toward the dining room. A prep cook reaches for ingredients without looking. Someone unloads supplies, stocks a shelf, bends for something underneath a counter, carries a bus tub, or moves something heavy from one place to another.

They've done these things so many times that the movements have become automatic.

That's wonderful when the employee learned a good way to perform the task.

But what if they didn't?

Restaurant Safety Killer™ #1—LOT™ (Lack of Training)—knows something important about habits:

The more often you do something, the more normal it feels.

And if nobody teaches an employee a safer way from the beginning, an awkward movement can become a very well-practiced habit.

LOT™ Likes to Get There Before Training Does

A new restaurant employee has to learn hundreds of things.

Where supplies are kept. How the station works. Which table is 42. Where clean glassware goes. How to carry everything they need. How to move quickly without getting in everybody else's way.

They're going to develop ways of doing all those things.

The question is whether someone deliberately teaches them how to perform physical tasks safely—or whether they're left to figure it out themselves.

If there's no ergonomics training, employees improvise.

They lift however lifting feels natural.

They reach however they can reach.

They carry whatever they think they can manage.

They bend, twist, stretch, grip, pull, push, and repeat movements without necessarily thinking about what those movements are doing to their bodies.

Eventually, they aren't figuring it out anymore.

They've created a habit.

"I've Always Done It This Way" Had a First Day

Nobody begins a restaurant job saying, "I'm going to develop an awkward way of lifting this box and then repeat it for the next four years."

It happens gradually.

Maybe nobody showed them another way.

Maybe they copied somebody else.

Maybe the fastest way seemed like the best way during a busy shift.

Whatever the reason, repetition does the rest.

Do something once and it's a movement.

Do it hundreds of times and it becomes automatic.

That's why ergonomics training belongs at the beginning, before employees have spent months practicing a way of working that may place unnecessary strain on their bodies.

Restaurant Work Is Full of Repetition

One movement doesn't sound particularly significant.

Now multiply it by an eight-hour shift.

Then multiply that by five shifts.

Then by 52 weeks.

A server may carry plates or trays again and again. A prep employee may perform the same hand and wrist movements throughout a shift. Employees may repeatedly reach for frequently used items, bend toward low storage areas, stock shelves, move supplies, push equipment, or lift boxes.

Restaurant work is filled with repetition.

That's why how employees perform routine tasks matters.

When the same movement is going to happen hundreds or thousands of times, it's worth teaching employees a safer way to do it before repetition turns that movement into an automatic habit.

The Workstation Can Teach Bad Habits Too

Sometimes the employee isn't the only thing that needs attention.

Look at where the work is happening.

Is something used constantly stored so high that employees repeatedly stretch to reach it?

Are frequently used supplies so low that employees continually bend for them?

Does an employee have to twist repeatedly because of where something is positioned?

Are employees carrying more than necessary because the items they need are inconveniently located?

Employees adapt to their environment.

If a workstation makes an awkward movement necessary, they'll eventually become very good at making that awkward movement.

Ergonomics training can help employees and managers start noticing those things instead of simply accepting them as part of the job.

Speed Doesn't Have to Mean Strain

Restaurants move fast.

When tickets are coming in, guests are waiting, and everyone has five things to do at once, employees naturally look for ways to become faster.

That's part of becoming good at the job.

But speed and safety shouldn't have to compete.

Employees can be taught to think about how they're lifting, carrying, reaching, and positioning themselves while still getting the job done efficiently.

In fact, a better way of performing a task may eventually become just as automatic as the old one.

That's the goal.

We don't want employees thinking through every body movement during the dinner rush.

We want safer work habits to become the movements they don't have to think about anymore.

Don't Let "Common Sense" Design Your Ergonomics Program

This is one of LOT™'s favorite hiding places.

Everyone knows how to pick something up, right?

Everyone knows how to carry things.

Everyone knows how to reach for something on a shelf.

Why would anyone need training for that?

Because doing something instinctively isn't necessarily the same as doing it in a way that reduces unnecessary strain—especially when that movement will be repeated throughout a shift.

"Common sense" also doesn't know the layout of your restaurant, the tasks your employees perform, how frequently they perform them, or which movements they're repeating day after day.

Those are things worth paying attention to deliberately.

Training Is Easier Than Unlearning

Anyone who has tried to change a long-established habit knows how difficult it can be.

Once a movement becomes automatic, the employee isn't deliberately choosing it anymore.

Their body simply does what it has practiced doing.

That's why training someone correctly from the beginning can be so valuable.

You're not asking them to stop doing something they've done 10,000 times.

You're helping establish the better habit before there is an old habit to replace.

That's a much easier job.

Managers Can Watch for the Work, Not Just the Result

Restaurant managers naturally watch results.

Did the food get delivered?

Did the supplies get stocked?

Did the prep get finished?

Did the dining room get reset?

Ergonomics asks managers to occasionally look one step earlier:

How is the employee getting that result?

Are they repeatedly twisting?

Are they overreaching?

Are they carrying something in a way that could be improved?

Is the setup of the workstation creating unnecessary movement?

Could a small change make a frequently repeated task easier on the employee's body?

Sometimes improving safety doesn't require changing the job.

It requires changing how the job is done.

The REST Compliance Protection System™ Helps Establish Safer Habits

The REST Compliance Protection System™ helps restaurant managers make ergonomics part of employee safety training instead of assuming employees will naturally figure out the best way to perform physical tasks.

Through the Restaurant Safety Calendar™, employees receive focused training on important restaurant safety topics, reinforce what they've learned with a 10-question situational quiz, and receive a personalized certificate after successfully completing the course.

That gives managers an opportunity to establish expectations before employees have spent months or years developing their own methods.

Because when physical tasks are going to be repeated again and again, the safest time to teach a better way is before the repetition begins.

Part of the Restaurant Safety Calendar™

This article is part of the Ergonomics Safety Cycle in the Restaurant Safety Calendar™.

Restaurant employees lift, carry, reach, bend, push, pull, grip, stand, and repeat movements throughout their shifts. Eventually, many of those movements become so familiar that employees barely notice they're doing them.

That's exactly why ergonomics training matters.

A good work habit repeated thousands of times can work in an employee's favor.

An awkward one can be repeated thousands of times too.

Don't Let LOT™ Build the Habit

LOT™ doesn't have to teach employees the wrong way to work.

He simply has to make sure nobody teaches them a better way.

Then repetition takes over.

The employee figures something out. It works. They do it again tomorrow. Soon they don't even think about it anymore.

"That's just how I do it."

Don't wait until a habit has been practiced thousands of times before introducing ergonomics.

Teach employees from the beginning. Show them safer ways to lift, carry, reach, and perform repetitive tasks. Pay attention to how workstations affect movement. Help good techniques become automatic.

Because employees are going to develop habits either way.

Make sure the habits they practice are the ones you want them keeping.