How And Why Risk Assessment Tools Are Employed By The Hospitality Industry

The notion of Risk

 With the development of a n organization and any business, organizations come across many risks coming from a variety of sources. The sources can be external such as societal, political, environmental or economic. The internal factors on the other hand can come from the inner lacking or gaps in the company itself. Among the internal and external factors, the bed –bugs, workplace violence, data breach, workers’ compensation, employee theft, swimming polls, spoilage of food resources, liquor liability and property risks are remarkable because they pose unwanted problems for the organization and stain their reputation in the hospitality service industry. It has been found that adopting a risk management process and implementing that in the organization can up to greater extent mitigate the risks and tailor their service quality according to the business and customer requirements. The present business report will define the notion of risks and what is the use and importance of risk management systems in the hospitality organizations. The report will further choose a hotel/motel/ restaurant to analyze the venue risk of that organization. The chose restaurant for the present report is the Sushi- Sushi restaurant of Melbourne and a risk management process will be practically applied conducting a risk assessment if this restaurant.

The idea of ‘risk’ and the consequences it brings with itself influences the decision making processes in the human lives and, in the business world and in society also. The decision making at all levels depends on the seriousness of the risk factor and its management. The profit opportunities in business must be evaluated keeping in terms with the subsequent risks they engender.  The problems of global, financial, political and individual risks must be resolved on the basis of cos –benefit and risk – cost instead on the absolute basis. The term ‘risk ‘is inextricably associated with our daily lives and therefore it is hard to pin the notion down. However, it should be also kept in mind that the word itself is ambiguous and gas different interpretations. The particular idea of risk is highly linked with the concept of uncertainty. It is where the idea emerges from. Uncertain situations and uncertain speculations give birth to the thought of risk. A predicable outcome never gives space to risks because in such cases it is known that something will either happen or won’t happen. Risks and uncertainties are pervasive, unlike certainties which are elusive.  Usually it is the basic thought that ‘risk ‘is typically associated with negativity but there are evidences where risks are considered positive and risky situations have resulted in positive outcomes. Therefore, it can be said that a consequence of uncertainty is risk, it is not itself uncertainty.

Key risks in the Hospitality industry

 Risk can be defined as the predicted variability of future results. Economists refer the terms as being the differing factor between what has been expected and what actually comes out. There are certain techniques of risk measurement and metrics. Regarding this an example would be beneficial. In the daily lives of human beings, people regularly come across situations where they do not get as an outcome what they have expected. A verity of obstacles come on the way either from the external side or from within. According to Williams and Baláž (2015) this welcomes the thought of uncertainty arisen by the obstacles and here comes the need to measure the future risks of that deviation from the plan.

The hospitality industry has many aspects which are subject to high risks.  There are a range of hazards that this industry faces every day in their operations. The risks can come in properties, spoilage, bed bugs, swimming pools, liquor liability, workplace violence, employee theft, worker’s compensation and in the field of data breach. The most significant risk the hospitality sector faces is terms of property damage which usually occur due to unexpected fire in the hotels and restaurants. The loss incurred by unexpected fire in the area determines what kind of sprinkler system, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers have been used. It also determines whether there were proper evacuation and exit plans or not. The food establishments also have risks of spoilage. The mechanical breakdown in the cold storage of food resources might cause the risk of food spoilage. The coverage system and back up plans for preserving the foods in the cold storage must be there to avoid this risk.

 Another risk comes from the liquor liability issue where the hospitality organizations must hold a liquor liability policy to serve, distribute, sell and manufacture liquors. Since the liquor policy varies in various states, the organization must be aware of the laws that applies to it. Employer’ s property theft is also another serious issue in the hospitality field. Pest caused risks should also not be forgotten because it is another big issue which carries disease which can damage the reputation of the organization. The bed –bugs must be addressed at regular intervals. The risk in data breach is related to the credit cards hacking and computer system hackings. This hacking can be done by the employees or by other people. Hence, this is just an outline of the risks in the hospitality sectors but the subject is vaster and can affect the organization significantly.

The importance of risk management in the Hospitality industry

The hospitality industry comes under the service industry where customer service, customer preference and satisfaction occupies a greater part of their priorities. Another priority is to achieve the competitive edge in the market over the rivals. In the highly competitive world if an organization runs strategically, following certain measures and processes, the level of risks can be reduced to a greater extent and the regular operations of the organization can run smoothly say Zhang, Paraskevas and Altinay (2018). A strong and effective risk management system or process can help the hospitality sector to recognize, analyze, assess and mitigate the risks coming from various sources. The reputation of the organization and the revenues that they earn radically get influenced by the risks management systems. The hospitality sector must consider risks mitigation with risks management systems as their responsibility and not only as their liability. They must undergo risk assessment of their organization on a regular basis and implement the management processes to deal with the issues.

  The sushi –sushi restaurant is a small Japanese restaurant located in Melbourne (Australia). The restaurant was founded in the year 2014 by Mr. Nihonjin No Shimei. The restaurant also provides home delivery services and it is the best sushi hub for the sushi lovers (sushisushi.com 2018). They serve an extensive range of sushi and salads. As reported by the local customers they have a brilliant customer management system and friendly nature that they have distinguish them from other sushi –sellers(sushisushi.com 2018). The restaurant is beautifully decorated with Japanese equipment and kitchen appliances. They have maintained the traditional Japanese dining methods which adds extra flavor to the Japanese environment that they have tried to create(sushisushi.com 2018).

 Venue risk analysis is a process that helps to recognize potential problems which could prove threatening for the business and manage them. The threats need to be analyzed first if all and then appropriate risk management processes needs to be practically applied to mitigate the problems There are so many situations where risk analysis is essential (Benavides-Chicón  and Ortega 2014). The situations are different from each other such as the in the hospitality industry the management of an organization might feel the need to anticipate the possible problems when they are planning for something new, when they are making decision on whether to move with a particular project or not, when they are planning to improve the safety and managerial risks in the work area, when they are planning to incorporate new technology equipment in the operations and others. The risk analysis of an organization has two components namely the risk ranking system where it will be shown how the risks were assessed and next in the venue risk analysis form/tool the unique measures of the organization (in this case venue) will be described

Risk assessment of the Sushi-Sushi Restaurant

The risk ranking system –   In the case of Sushi Sushi restaurant the risks assessment will be carried out by the catering am ager of the Japanese restaurant. The restaurant possesses five permanent staffs who observe the food preparation, home delivery operations, serving of the food and maintain the crockery.  The manager of the restaurant is supposed to use the Five Steps ton risk assessment to identify the hazards(sushisushi.com 2018). The manager is supposed to explore the web page regarding hospitality, catering and employment of staffs. He is supposed to inspect the kitchens and other areas to notice whether there are possible implications for future risks or not. Another way of assessing the risk is by conducting enquiry of the staffs (McNeil, Frey and Embrechts 2015). Their opinions, their concerns and experiences must be paid attention(sushisushi.com 2018). The manager is supposed to go through the previous year books of Sushi – Sushi to find out whether there were any such hazards related to the hospitality of the restaurant or not. Then the manager must write down his observations to contemplate on what type of risk management system could be applied to get better results. This risk assessment is likely to be reviewed every year in case of any major changes in the restaurant. The staffs should also be given the platform to reveal any minor issue that can pose huge risks in future.

The Venue Risk Analysis-  The manager found out that most of the hazards in the sushi sushi restaurant are in the food section. There are more than five hazards which can harm people associated with the restaurant(sushisushi.com 2018).  The manager also wrote about their present measures to deal with the hazards. First of all, there are slips and trips hazards and the staffs working in the kitchen have high chances of getting harmed as well as the customers who might get injured if they slip over spillages or trip over objects. Regarding this what they are already doing is that, keeping the work areas tidy, maintaining leaks in the kitchen by using advanced kitchen equipment. The report of any leakage is being infirmed to the manager as soon as possible. Frequent spillage cleaning service is getting done immediately after any such incident and the floor is being kept dry. The walk ways are being kept clear of any obstructions and lastly they have highlighted any level change or step change so that nobody stumbles down(sushisushi.com 2018). The next risk that he has observed is in the part of manual handling of heavy items such as ingredient boxes of meat, heavy grain sacks, trays of crockery and many others. The kitchen staffs can be harmed by such hazards such as they might get strains or bruise from handling bulky objects. In order to mitigate this problem, the ingredients are fragmented into smaller packages which area easy to lift and handle(sushisushi.com 2018). The heavy sacks are placed at a waist height s that it becomes easy for the staffs to get access to the stocks without much effort. Appropriate handling aids are provided to the staffs while moving heavy objects from one place to another. The next level of hazards is associated with the staffs’ continuous contact with hot water, steam, hot surfaces and hot oil while making sushi. They might suffer from burn injuries caused by this wok process(sushisushi.com 2018).

Conclusion

Another significant risk has been found caused by continuous contact with bleach and other cleaning chemicals. Long time contact with water and detergents can cause skin problems to the workers. The staffs who are most related with the cleaning process are also likely to damage eye and the chemical vapour might cause breathing problems(sushisushi.com 2018).  The sushi sushi restaurant is already dealing with the problem by applying dishwashers in place of bare hands for cleaning up. All the containers are labelled properly according to their irritant properties. The rubber gloves, ling handled brushes are provided to the staffs. The hazards that comes from fire in the hospitality area is another serious issue that can harm masses of people at a time. The restaurant has followed the guidelines and safety measure to fire extinguish and has applied them in the workplace. This can harm anybody present there at the time of flash out. Machinery related risk can again harm the staffs due to their continuous contact with the machines.  Regarding this the management of the restaurant has trained the staffs in the operations and the safety measures. The dangerous machinery parts have been guarded as much as possible. The staffs have been instructed not to use any defective machine and report to the management as soon as possible. They have focused on the repairing of defective machines by experts with safety – critical repairs. Electrical risks can also emerge which can harm the staffs well as other people. The management ensures to check the entire electric system of the restaurant once in every 6 months(sushisushi.com 2018).

The management of the restaurant has focused on reducing the workers’ compensation risk, property damage risk and pest spreading risks. Since liquor liability has also been found to be a serious risk which can harm the reputation of the restaurant, the management is trying to keep the terms and conditions of the state regarding liquors.  The restaurant has its own regulations as they do not serve liquors to underage people. The risks related to the pressure system (steam pipes, pressure fryers) which might harm and cause fatal injury to the on-floor people is tried to be mitigated regular inspection done by expert engineers. Hence, these ae the areas which need special handling and strong action plan. Although the management of the sushi- sushi restaurant is trying to deal with the risks in their own way, a proper risk management plan and process are required to deal with the problems in a better way reducing the future impacts as much as possible.

 Keeping in mind the various priority areas where proper action is required, the sushi – sushi restaurant can handle the hazards by following certain measures. Regarding the slips and trips hazard, the floor surface can be replaced with better surface roughness so that nobody slips on the floor. It would be better if the staffs are reminded to maintain good housekeeping services. Matching with the type of floor, suitable footwear can be provided to the workers to help them work with ease suggest Kandampully Zhang and Jaakkola (2018). Regarding the risk related to heavy item handling, use of small wheeled cars is recommended. Next, hot water signs on the sinks should be placed to make the staffs aware of the danger and save them from burning themselves. In order to deal with the risk related with the chemical handling and bleach handling, it is recommended to ensure that the staffs are thoroughly washing and drying their hands after the clean ups.  The application of nut –oil –free cream on the hands of the staffs can do god to the skin problems.  In order to deal with the electric shocks, the electric appliances and wire connections must be checked regularly by an expert engineer who can suggest also about what kind of equipment needs to be used to avoid such issues. According to Aissa and Goaied (2016) management is recommended to instruct the staffs to always isolate machines while cleaning he floor or carrying out maintenance. Regarding the maintenance of workplace behaviors and organizational cultures, the management should train the staffs to retain their friendly and supportive nature in the workplace because it is the foundation of any business.

Conclusion

Therefore, from the above discussion it can be said that risks are inextricably associated with human lives and the organizations are also not beyond that fact. Although risks will exist with every operation, its cannot be put down but can be dealt with smart efforts and a strong risk management process. It has been found that adopting a risk management process and implementing that in the organization, the risks can be mitigated up to greater extent and the products and services can be tailored according the needs of the customers. The present report at first demonstrated the idea of ‘risks’ in association with various contexts in the human lives. The report ten proceeded by giving examples of the variety of risks a hospitality industry usually faces and suggests how these can be mitigated. The risk analysis of the sushi –sushi restaurant discloses mm any other ways too where there are high risk regarding safety issues. The report recommends how these issues can be light weighted by applying correct management plans at the correct time. Hence, the risk management system must be an essential part of organizations.

 The VRA form of SUSHI -SUSHI RESTAURANT (the Australia, Melbourne)

References 

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