Why Communication Is Key to Mitigating Risk

By: Derek Sherman

It’s a fact that running a restaurant is risky business. And it’s not just the slim margins or the projected failure rate. With sharp knives, multiple staffers, guests, and open flames, they are rife with the risk of injury or liability. However, Derek Sherman of EB Cohen Insurance & Risk Management believes operators can reduce risk through the simple act of consistent communication on a regular basis.

There’s No Such Thing as Overcommunication

Having a structure and educating the team is vital to employee safety and well-being. “People need to feel they are getting the care they need and feel like they’re being taken care of. Talking about safety issues makes it top of mind for people,” says Sherman. Despite the old-school mentality of grinning and bearing it when a worker is injured, staffers must be encouraged to report an incident. Operators want you to report it. You have to! OSHA requires you to document the incident.” Employees need to understand that there’s no risk involved in reporting an injury. “They will not get in trouble. From an organization’s standpoint, management has to make it very clear and be very reassuring that if someone is injured their safety is priority number one.” 

Start with Best Practices

Be sure your staff has access to and understands policies. For instance, if an employee is injured on the job, operators should have guidelines in place for how to address the incident. Employees should receive regular communications around where to receive treatment and, at the time of the incident, be given a workers’ compensation ID card to provide the facility with the information needed for a work-related injury. This will avoid employees being billed personally and the facility asking questions that the employee does not know or understand.  Sending someone with a cut or burn, depending on the severity (which are two of the most common types of injuries), to a walk-in facility as opposed to the emergency room puts the employee in the best position for treatment and it saves cost as well as time

Analyze Your Data

To reduce risk, operators, along with their trusted insurance and risk management partners, should be looking at the data available on their incident reporting technology. “Whether it’s a guest injury or an employee injury, this software gives management a mechanism to report on this in real-time,” says Sherman. Compare different locations to see how one location is performing better from a risk-management standpoint, such as injuries. “I look at what the injuries are, if it is the same person or piece of equipment involved, and if it happens at a certain time of day,” he says. Then Sherman works with leadership to create recommendations that he thinks could be impactful from a safety standpoint and, thus, reduce insurance costs.

Employee Feedback Is Essential

Team members need to know their concerns or issues will be heard by management when it comes to the culture of the organization. If a chef is being abusive to staffers, sometimes leadership may not be aware. “These things tend to happen in the shadows. One person is getting harassed and only they know about it,” says Sherman. “You really have to make a conscious effort to infiltrate every area of a company and communicate what’s acceptable and give them training and resources for various scenarios. You need to eliminate the shadows.”

Be Sure Everyone Understands You

The incredible melting pot that is New York is a city in which people speak many languages. It is management’s obligation to be sure that non-native English speakers can fully comprehend policies and procedures. “We find that Spanish is one of the dominant languages in the kitchen, but whatever it is, we try to get someone who speaks that language to attend the training. We want to make sure everyone understands what we’re laying out,” he says. Independent operators should be sure to translate any communication regarding trainings to avoid confusion and empower all their employees. 

Have New Conversations During New Circumstances

As restaurants embraced delivery as a way to keep serving their clientele, many suddenly pivoted to something new — delivery! Some brought delivery operations in-house, which necessitated using staff to help customers receive their orders. “Under these circumstances, you want to create a risk-management program around delivery specifically, and then be sure to communicate it to your team members,” he says. People who are doing delivery need to know where they can and can’t go and what they should be wearing in terms of keeping them safe and visible in traffic. If delivery personnel are using vehicles instead of bicycles for delivery, he advises, “Work with employees to be able to run the proper motor vehicle reports to ensure they have a clean driving record.” Bottom line: Whenever there is a change in operations, be sure to create a risk-management plan and educate all staffers.