non-cooking kitchen injuries

chefjason · #1 08-04-2005, 07:28 PM

I'm sure the kitchen injury thread has been done a million times, but I just had an incident that puts a different twist on it.

I was showing one of my new hires the acid soak tank to soak the oven racks in for cleaning. When I pulled it out the lid popped and it splashed all over me. I immediately washed my hands, arms and exposed skin. Everything seemed fine. 15-20 mins later my feet began to itch real bad. I ripped off my shoes and socks and found chemical burns on the tops of my feet. I wore sandals for my street shoes that day so while I was cleaning and drying my work shoes and socks I had to walk around in sandals which of course gets everyones attention right away. Luckily I had meetings most of the morning so I was safe from other kitchen accidents due to improper footwear while they dried.

Anyone else have any kitchen injuries not related to actually cooking.

chefalexander · #2 08-04-2005, 08:25 PM

Slip/falls can always be nasty. Fortunately, those are minor now since non-skid shoe soles and mats. Now, most of my 'non-cooking' injuries are those unexplained bruises from bumping into equipment during service, and then forgetting.

Krokodyle · #3 08-04-2005, 09:08 PM

>> non-skid shoe soles and mats
I remember when the kitchen I was at got ns mats back in the 80s. A true godsend.

chrose · #4 08-05-2005, 07:28 AM

I got what you are looking for (when don't I?

)
The time was about 4:00pm getting prep ready and service time is creeping up quick. Roto Rooter was called because the grease trap was backing up near the dishwasher. The guy comes in and opens the trap which was a hole in the floor approximately 2 ft. x 2-1/2 ft. in size. He says that he's forgotten something in his truck and rather than putting the cover on while he's at his truck, he says to "be careful, the trap is open". That's fine if I'm standing there watching it, but I was busy. So I'm running around doing things and I go over to the dish racks to get a pan and I'm looking up at the shelves to find the pan, not even thinking about the hole and boom! in I go! I fell forward and my right leg went in and bashed against the edge gashing open my shin and bathing it in lovely raw sewage. I was wet, I stunk and was bleeding. I went to the clinic and got it cleaned and stitched up and returned to work. I was in a lot of pain from the whole thing, plus I stunk so I went home and took the next day off as well. When the bill came I sent it and my lost wage claim to Roto Rooter. They refused to pay claiming it was my fault for not looking after the guy said the trap was open. I contended that safe practice not to mention OSHA reg's state that you do not leave open holes in a floor without proper protection of the employees (and workers). I filed a small claims suit and had to serve them to get them to acknowledge the date. Long story a little shorter, I won the case, but the judge decided that since the Roto Rooter guy said the hole would be open I was half to blame so I got half the judgement which still covered my bills and lost wages with a couple of bucks for pain etc. The owner of RR was pissed! But I got to keep my leg!

kuan · #5 08-05-2005, 07:37 PM

My chef dropped a block of ice on his foot once.

Mezzaluna · #6 08-05-2005, 09:04 PM

I was wrangling a Corelle bowl out of the cupboard, where it was nested below some other bowls. As I pulled it out, it literally split into several pieces- razor-sharp pieces. I got nicked on the inside of my arm a few inches below my wrist. Fortunately, it missed a vessel, and a few stitches did the trick.

Since this is "non-cooking injuries", I won't mention the time I snipped through the skin on my finger with the poultry shears or the time I cut another finger when I was disjointing the hind quarter of a chicken without using the cutting board....

I was driving a car with a manual transmission at the time, but made it to the ER somehow.

chrose · #7 08-06-2005, 01:51 PM

Ahh each post brings back memories of another injury

We had a giant mixing bowl about 4' across that was on a stand with wheels. We would use if for making large batches of cocktail sauce, tartar, cole slaw etc (seafood rest.). I had finished making and batching up a bunch of cole slaw and was going to take the bowl to the DW. Because of the size and weight of the thing I hefted it up like a weightlifter might do a snatch and spun it as I put it on the dishtable. The curled edge was under my index finger at the second joint and the sliding action was like a knife that slit the inside of the knuckle clean to the bone. Luckily I was young and it was a clean cut so I healed quickly, but it was a deep one! Learned my lesson there about lifting and "placing" things.

Jim · #8 08-08-2005, 09:43 AM

I am recovering from Tennis Elbow. After all these years of doing saute work, you would think I was immune from a repetative motion injury. D'uh... I guess not. It hurts when I am in the 'saute flip' mode. It gets so bad after particularly busy times that when I try to hold, say, a coffee mug... I just drop it; like the message to my hand is not getting through. Ice packs followed by warm compress. Poor me.

liv4fud · #9 08-08-2005, 10:29 AM

does holding a pan with loaves of bread that had come out of the oven (seconds back) with both hands and realizing the burn after it was nearly a second degree one count as cooking or non-cooking?? pulled out a pan off the rack with one hand and put it on the palm of the other to get yet another one out.

my fingers and hands were seemingly numb after washing dishes and I was trying to help the crew by getting the bread to them.

Frizbee · #10 08-08-2005, 01:13 PM

Mine are as follows:
Was trying to get the star shaped pastry tip all the way down in a wet pastry bag and my index (which is a bit fat) slipped right into the tip. My finger was sticking out up to the first joint. My chef, after he laughed real hard and showed it off to everyone else, managed (with a lot of pain causing actions) to pry each tip back with needle nose pliers and I was able to get my finger back.
I have also sliced myself countless times on the razor sharp edge of a roll top cooler trying to clean the sides where the top connects. I swear the manufactures must put an edge on them just to get me.
I have also poured hot water in my clogs (by accident) pouring hot pasta water out of a kettle jack. That SUCKED. I couldn’t get my shoes and socks off fast enough, or get to dish and spray my feet with cold water fast enough.
Frizbee