OCCUPATIONAL APPLICATIONSResults from our exploratory study of restaurant worker mental models of injury and safety emphasize the need for improved occupational safety in the culinary industry through targeted interventions for chefs and managers. The analysis we performed showed that managers possess more integrated and coherent mental models of injury and safety than chefs, reflected in network parameters showing better organization of safety concepts. Kitchen training programs should focus on bridging gaps in safety awareness and mitigating hazards such as burns, cuts, slips, and equipment-related risks. Given their stronger understanding of safety protocols, managers are well positioned to lead kitchen staff training. Leadership-focused training for managers is vital for improving communication, enforcing protocols, and leveraging their integrated mental models of injury and safety in daily practice. Continuous education tailored to the specific responsibilities of chefs and managers is essential for ensuring effective safety training and maintaining standards.
Keywords: Kitchen work; mental model; occupational safety; pathfinder.
Background: Kitchen tasks encompass risks for culinary workers due to the presence of heat, sharp objects, slippery surfaces, and cooking equipment. Risks associated with kitchen tasks include cuts, burns, slips, falls, and other electrical or fire hazards. These risks disproportionately affect chefs and managers due to their distinct kitchen responsibilities. Purpose: When culinary workers understand the implications of unsafe actions, they become more likely to take precautionary measures. We explored potential differences in mental models of injury and safety between chefs and managers to identify role-specific training needs. Methods: We surveyed 25 restaurant personnel to understand their perceived risk factors for injuries in the kitchen. We used Pathfinder networks to identify differences in how chefs and managers perceive risks. Results: We found that managers have more coherent and integrated mental models of injury and safety protocols compared to chefs. Managers’ networks exhibited a smaller mean shortest path length between kitchen safety concepts, indicating more efficient information organization. While both groups showed a fully connected network, managers maintained a denser core after thresholding. The lower clustering coefficient for managers suggests a more distributed understanding of kitchen safety. Managers provided significantly lower relatedness ratings for kitchen safety concepts compared to chefs, which suggests that managers possess a more detailed understanding of safety concepts, helping them to differentiate between distinct safety issues more effectively. Managers’ higher degree of network coherence compared to chefs highlights their more systematic integration of safety protocols. Conclusions: Incorporating risk awareness into kitchen training through role-specific education could foster a safer workspace by aligning the injury and safety mental models of chefs and managers.