No burger joint or late-night kebab stop will be exempt from a WorkSafe WA sweep of takeaway food outlets’ safety standards.

WorkSafe Director Joe Attard says there is good reason to target fast food outlets; “Every couple of days in WA, a worker in a takeaway food outlet is injured seriously enough to have to take time off work,” he said, “the most common injuries are soft tissue injuries and the most common way of sustaining an injury is through a fall on the same level on a wet, oily, or icy surface... almost 70 percent of these injuries are classified as serious, resulting in five or more days off work, or severe, resulting in 60 or more days off work.”

The focus of the inspections will be hazardous substances (such as oven and hotplate cleaners), electrical outlets, manual tasks, slips, trips, falls and protective machinery guarding. Inspectors will look at industry-specific issues such as handling of hot water and oil from deep fryers, use of protective gloves when slicing, knife safety and the risk of burns from grills and hotplates.

“We firmly believe that raising awareness with proactive programs is the best way in which to lessen the risk of work-related injury and illness, but inspectors will take enforcement action during the program if necessary... the Service Industries Team will inspect at least 100 takeaway food outlets over the course of this program,” said Mr Attard.

Inspections will be carried out over the course of the next twelve months.