General Kitchen Safety Knife Handling and Hygiene SWMS

Product Overview

This SWMS covers general kitchen safety, knife handling and hygiene activities from pre-start checks through to storing utensils and responding to incidents. It supports work planning and risk management by addressing cutting, food handling, cleaning, storage and kitchen-area hazards.

Activities & Specific Tasks Covered

This document includes task-specific risk controls for:

• Complete a pre-start kitchen inspection
• Prepare hygiene measures and personal protective equipment
• Inspect and select knives
• Set up a stable cutting station
• Chop and slice ingredients
• Cut fruit and vegetables
• Grate and shred foods
• Open canned goods
• Manage high-volume preparation
• Open and close freezers safely
• Wash large cooking utensils
• Store knives and utensils and respond to incidents

Who is this for?

For contractors, workers, supervisors and businesses carrying out kitchen preparation, knife handling and hygiene activities.

Specific Job Steps & Hazards Covered

Legislation & References

The template includes references relevant to the documented work, including:

• Applicable Commonwealth, state or territory WHS/OHS legislation and regulations: apply the relevant duty-holder, consultation, risk-management, workplace-facilities, plant, hazardous-chemical, manual-task, incident-notification and PPE duties in the jurisdiction where the work is undertaken.
• Model Code of Practice: How to manage work health and safety risks (November 2024) — guidance for identifying hazards, applying the hierarchy of controls, maintaining controls and reviewing risks.
• Model Code of Practice: Work health and safety consultation, cooperation and coordination (July 2023) — guidance for consulting workers and coordinating controls.
• Model Code of Practice: Hazardous manual tasks — guidance for repetitive work, awkward postures, force and musculoskeletal-disorder risks.
• Model Code of Practice: Managing the work environment and facilities — guidance for safe floors, lighting, amenities, hygiene and workplace housekeeping.
• Model Code of Practice: Managing risks of hazardous chemicals in the workplace — guidance for chemical registers, SDS, labelling, storage and worker information.
• Australian/New Zealand Standards used as guidance where relevant: AS 2210.3 Safety, protective and occupational footwear; AS/NZS 1337.1 Personal eye-protection; AS/NZS 2161 Occupational protective gloves; AS/NZS 1906.4 Industrial safety netting and associated restraint systems is not applicable to this activity.
• Model WHS laws and model Codes of Practice are guidance documents for adoption by jurisdictions; confirm the legislation, approved codes and any food-safety requirements applying at the actual workplace.

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Standard SWMS Features (Click to Expand)

• Task-specific job steps, hazards and control measures
• Initial and residual risk ratings
• Assigned responsible persons for each job step
• Plant, equipment and PPE requirements where applicable
• Permits, qualifications and high-risk construction work details where applicable
• Worker consultation, sign-off and review sections