Recent injuries in curry houses because of ill-maintained ovens for tandoori cooking have caused the Birmingham City Council to take action.
Several accidents have occurred in the city at curry houses involving employees who suffered serious burn injuries while trying to light special ovens called tandoors. Birmingham City Council’s Environmental Health initiated a sequence of inspections to check safety measures in various curry houses.
27 takeaways and restaurants all over the city were inspected by officers, who inquired about maintenance from the owners, and also took enforcement actions where necessary. Two ovens that had caused accidents were declared to be defective, when the inspectors confiscated them and sent them for examination.
At Handsworth, Chandni Chowks Restaurant and Sweets, an oven had not been maintained at all since its installation. Moreover, the installation had been done by a chef instead of a qualified engineer. A worker suffered serious burns on his hands, eyes and face when the oven exploded as he tried to light it. The Birmingham City Council’s Environmental Health safety officers found a lot of grave defects in the oven after inspection, and fined the owners a sum of £3,500. They were also ordered to pay £2,500 towards costs by the
At a different location, another tandoor was found that was being maintained by an engineer not qualified to handle catering appliances. Upon inspection, it was discovered that only a small fraction of ovens had ignition systems that were working properly. Employees were regularly using burning serviettes to light the tandoors, which is very unsafe. In addition to this, more than half of the tandoors did not light properly because of incomplete combustion, posing a serious threat of carbon monoxide poisoning to the workers. Ventilation facilities in the kitchen were poor and lacked interlocking ventilation canopies. The worst ovens that were found actually appeared to be home made.
Employers have a duty of care towards ensuring health and safety of the workers and members of the public; a NEBOSH Fire Safety and Risk Management Certificate (NEBOSH fire), leading to the award of the National General Certificate in Occupational Safety and Health, can be of benefit to organisations in providing the knowledge to manage safely and effectively in compliance with both the organisation’s policy and under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
