The tables are booked, a delivery is waiting and the evening team is arriving. Then the phone rings. A colleague who slipped during yesterday’s shift cannot come in. They are in pain and waiting to find out how long recovery will take.
For the manager, there is a rota to rearrange. For the person at home, there may be lost confidence, worries about money and ordinary family tasks that suddenly feel difficult. Their colleagues want to help, but they already have a busy evening ahead.
Business resilience in hospitality starts with protecting the people who make the welcome possible.
HSE’s figures show that slips, trips or falls on the same level accounted for 30% of non-fatal employee injuries reported under RIDDOR in Great Britain in 2024/25. This covers all industries, rather than hospitality alone, but the risk is familiar wherever people carry food, clear tables and work around wet floors.
Look at the shift as it really happens
A restaurant can look very different before the doors open. The floor is clear, there is time to find equipment and everyone knows where they are going. During service, deliveries, washing up and customers compete for the same space.
A spill may be noticed but left while someone answers a request. A box may block the route normally used to carry hot plates. A new starter may not know who to tell when something feels unsafe.
Ask the team where the difficult moments happen. They may already know which doorway gets congested or when cleaning arrangements become hard to follow. Those details help turn a general risk assessment into useful changes.
Protect the people covering the gap
When someone is absent, it is tempting to spread their tasks across whoever is available. That can mean a tired colleague staying late or someone taking on equipment they have never used.
Before filling a gap, check what the replacement person can safely do. A short explanation during a noisy service may not be enough. Sometimes the sensible decision is to simplify the menu, limit bookings or adjust the work.
That can feel commercially uncomfortable. However, protecting the remaining team helps avoid turning one absence into several.
Caring for a stretched team also means meeting your legal responsibilities. Employers must protect employees’ health, safety and welfare so far as reasonably practicable. In hospitality, effective precautions help protect guests as well as staff. They also help the business avoid preventable disruption, damaged trust and the consequences of non-compliance.
HSE works to prevent harm from work, sharing enforcement responsibilities with local authorities.
Five practical actions to take
- Walk the busy routes. Review kitchen entrances, stairs, service areas and delivery routes with the people using them. Look for congestion, damaged flooring and tasks that regularly leave surfaces wet.
- Make cleaning workable. Agree how spills are dealt with promptly and how people are kept away from the affected area. Check that suitable equipment is available when the shift is busiest.
- Give new starters a useful induction. Explain local hazards, safe routes, equipment restrictions and how to raise concerns. Check understanding before asking someone to work independently.
- Plan competent cover. Identify which jobs need particular training or supervision. Include holiday periods and late shifts, when experienced support may be limited.
- Review the pressure points. After a demanding service, ask what became difficult to do safely. Give improvements an owner and check whether they help during the next busy shift.
Build a team that can keep welcoming people
Good hospitality depends on people noticing what others need. That care should extend to the team behind the service.
Speak to the injured colleague without putting pressure on them to return. Review what happened and consider appropriate adjustments when they are ready. Let the team know which practical changes have followed.
Start with one question: “What becomes hardest to do safely when we are fully booked?” The answer may identify a small change that protects someone’s health and makes the next busy evening easier to manage.
About WT Consultancy
At WT Consultancy, we help businesses across Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and beyond stay health and safety compliant to safeguard their people and ensure their business is fully protected. Our hospitality support brings practical risk assessments and advice into the realities of a busy service.
Find out more about our hospitality health and safety support.
