Health Insurance and Chefs/Cooks

If you are like most people, you like to periodically dine out in restaurants. There, you can enjoy the social experience of dining with others in a public location, the ambiance of the restaurant and, of course, the food. Though restaurant customers frequently relay the message, “My compliments to the chef” through a waiter or waitress, as a chef and cook, your work is often unappreciated. Meanwhile, the labor can become not only demanding, but also dangerous.

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Restaurant Industry Health Hazards

Some of the occupational hazards that you can encounter as a cook or chef include:

• Accident hazards: falls due to wet floors, hauling heavy loads, and improper use of ladders; damaged electrical equipment; fire and explosions from dry flour and fuels; electrical and mechanical injuries when using cooking machines in the kitchen; cuts when using sharp tools
• Biological hazards: exposure to parasites in flour; bites and diseases from insects and rodents; exposure to yeast and fungi, which can result in skin and breathing problems
• Chemical hazards: exposure to spices can result in skin diseases and breathing problems; exposure to carbon monoxide; exposure to sugar dust can cause dental decay; exposure to high amounts of carbon dioxide; exposure to flour can result in skin diseases and breathing disorders
• Physical hazards: exposure to infrared radiation; leaking of radiation from broken microwave ovens; high temperatures and relative humidity can result in exhaustion

Health Care Lacks Quality

Restaurants are big business in America, and include sales of over $500 billion, over 900,000 locations, and almost 13 million employees. With so much food preparation conducted, it is vital that as a chef or cook, you are provided with quality health care. However, a great discrepancy exists in the quality of health care provided. According to a survey conducted in 2005, about 50% of Executive Chefs receive free health care coverage. However, only about 20% of Line Cooks receive such benefits. As an Executive Chef, you manage every aspect of a restaurant’s kitchen; as a line cook, you handle a particular part of production there.

While we cannot enjoy Dominican chimichurri burgers and guanabana sherbet every day, dining out remains a significant aspect of modern life. While as a chef or cook you appreciate compliments on your cooking, another way to be thanked is with a hearty health insurance plan.

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