The employees at food manufacturing facilities often have to use industrial ovens to cook food products. Here are some safety tips which these individuals should keep in mind when using this powerful piece of equipment, in order to avoid being injured.

Wear heat-resistant gloves and aprons

If a person fails to put on protective clothing prior to removing cooked food from an industrial oven, there is a far greater chance that they will sustain a severe injury.

For example, if an employee at a food manufacturing facility uses a thin tea towel to protect their hands whilst taking a hot food dish out of the oven, instead of a heavy-duty, heat-resistant oven glove, they will probably end up scalding their fingers and their palms.

Furthermore, if in this situation, the employee is not wearing a heat-resistant apron and they instinctively drop the dish after realising how hot it is, the food will then fall to the floor and end up splattering onto other parts of their body. If it soaks through their clothing, it could leave them with serious burns on their limbs and torso.

Take care when cleaning the oven

Industrial ovens need to be kept hygienically clean. Whilst some oven brands, like the Unox XEVC-2011-EPR for example, feature a range of automatic washing programs that make the process of cleaning them extremely safe, quick and easy (as all that an employee needs to do is press a button), many industrial ovens do not come with this type of design feature.

These ovens need to be manually washed. In addition to being quite laborious, this process can also potentially be dangerous if the person who is assigned this task does not take certain precautions.

First and foremost, the employee who will be performing this work should open the oven door and allow the equipment to cool down completely before they begin. This is critical, as placing their hands inside the oven chamber before the heat inside it has dissipated could lead to them being burnt.

Secondly, in addition to turning off the switches at the front of the oven, the person carrying out the job should plug the oven out of the socket. If they do not do this and they accidentally spill water around this area whilst washing the equipment, they could end up being electrocuted if this spillage comes into contact with any of the oven's electrical components.

For more information about maintaining your industrial oven, contact companies like Ian Boer Refrigeration.

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