North Carolina residents may be interested in a new survey from the Fast Food Workplace Safety released in March. It says that 79 percent of fast food workers have been burned at least once in the past year. At McDonald’s, the fries are cooked in oil that is as hot as 335 degrees, and the hamburger oven is covered in hot grease. Recently, a group of 28 McDonald’s workers filed a complaint with OSHA claiming that they received serious injuries due to being burned while on the job.
The complaint alleges that the workers are not given proper safety training and that safety standards are not always enforced. It also alleges that the employees are only given latex gloves to handle hot materials and are not given access to grease aprons. Some workers say that they must clean the grill while it is still on, as it takes too long to clean if it is allowed to cool.
Workers say that they are pressured to do so because they get fewer days on the schedule if they don’t clean fast enough. One worker alleged that after she was burned, her manager told her to put mayonnaise on it instead of offering burn cream for the injury that eventually left a scar. The workers who filed the complaint work at McDonald’s franchises in 19 different cities.
Employees who suffer a workplace injury may wish to file a complaint against their employer with the help of an attorney. It may be possible to win compensation to pay for medical bills and lost wages if the injury keeps the worker off the job. Long-term benefits may be available if an injury prevents a worker from either returning to work or finding work in another field.