Risk assessment for universities and hospitals restaurants in Gaza, Palestine, in 2012

Background: A cross-sectional analytic method was used to assess health and safety risks that really matter in restaurants of universities and hospitals in the Gaza strip, Palestine. Materials and methods: A 40-item questionnaire was completed by workers in all university and governmental hospital restaurants in the Gaza strip. Another 30-item questionnaire was completed by university students, in addition to 40 checklists and 40 personal meetings were conducted by the researcher. The collected data were analyzed by the risk score matrix to detect the risk level (low, medium, high, and very high) for each risk factor. Results: In general, university and hospital restaurants were similar in terms of risk, but the details differed. The results showed that 22.7% of physical and electrical risk factors in universities were at a very high risk level. It was found that 50.0% of cleanliness of the location and equipment risk factors were at a high risk level, and 60.0% of machinery and equipment risk factors were at a moderate risk level. In addition, the most frequently observed risk factor was employees’ and customers’ safety and health. The results on hospital restaurants showed 75% of physical and electrical risk factor and machinery and equipment risk factor were at a moderate level and high level, respectively. Conclusions: It can be concluded that hospital and university restaurants are similar in terms of risks and levels of risks. Moreover, restaurant employees, cleaners, organization employees, visitors, university students, and patients in hospitals may be at risk if exposure to hazards. Therefore, the development and implementation of a plan with specific measures to address the identified risks is recommended.