Tacoma Workshops Hit on Youth Safety in Restaurants

Workshops to teach restaurant managers and supervisors how to prevent injuries to their young workers will be held April 18 and 20 in Tacoma, Washington. The Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) and the Washington Restaurant Association (WRA) are jointly sponsoring the sessions.

The free “Supervising for Safety” workshops will be held during the Northwest Foodservice Show at the Tacoma Dome. The April 18 workshop will be from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., and the April 20 session will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. Registration for the Northwest Foodservice Show is required to attend the workshops.

The workshop training is intended to prevent slips and falls, cuts, contusions, burns and sprains to young workers in restaurants. Those injuries reportedly account for more than 85 percent of all injuries in the restaurant industry, which employs up to 50 percent of teenage workers. The workshops also cover teen labor laws, as well as general injury-prevention strategies that are useful for workers of all ages.

Space for the Tacoma workshops is limited. To register, contact Mary Miller, occupational health nurse at L&I, at 360-902-6041 or mmar235@LNI.wa.gov.