Restaurant closes to avoid impact of extreme heat on kitchen staff

Kristine Roscoe, manager of Asteras Greek Taverna, stands in an empty dining room on Tuesday Aug. 11 after the owners made the decision to close for the day as the temperature reached 35°C in order to protect kitchen staff from the extreme heat. Photo: Mick Sweetman / CHLY 101.7FM

A heatwave sent temperatures soaring on Vancouver Island Tuesday hitting 35°C in Nanaimo.

Several restaurants and bakeries in Nanaimo closed in response to the heat saying they didn’t want to put their staff at risk.

Kristine Roscoe is the manager of Asteras Greek Taverna which was closed on Tuesday after the owner's Peter Paraskevopoulos and Nichole Sullivan decided if their workers couldn’t take the heat, it was time to close the kitchen.

“We don't have a restaurant without staff and subjecting the kitchen staff to those kinds of working conditions was just something that wasn't in anybody's best interest.”

Suzana Prpic, a senior manager at WorksafeBC, says that employers need to pay attention to the working conditions of their employees

“I think that right now the key is monitoring for heat stress,” she said. “It's really, really important.”

Prpic says that there should be ongoing monitoring and planning around working during heat events by everyone in a workplace.

“It's really important that all workers are engaged in those discussions so that everybody on a jobsite understands what the plans are, if they don't feel well, who to contact if they don't feel well, and what they can do,” she said.

Prpic suggests that employers look at delaying work until later in the week or working during cooler parts of the day.

“Can the activities be altered so that periods of high heat can be avoided?,” she suggested. “Can work be done before 11 o'clock? Can work be done after 3 p.m.?”

Roscoe says that Asteras kitchen can be anywhere from 15°C to 20°C hotter than the restaurant and staff are working right beside hot ovens and grills.

She said that people understood the decision to close when she posted about it to the Eat Local Nanaimo Facebook group.

“We got amazing responses from everyone,” she said. “Very, very positive feedback saying they respected that the ownership has taken such good care of their staff. It's not always about the almighty dollar.”

When Roscoe told her staff that they wouldn’t be working in the heat today she said they responded by shouting “let's go to the river!”

“We've all worked in this restaurant when it's been hot and you're just dripping and they're fine to take the extra day,” she said “They're very supportive and loyal.”

Roscoe says that Asteras hopes to open on Wednesday and are looking forward to welcoming their regulars back and hopes people can understand the difficulties that the heat poses for staff.

“On the hotter days, we're just not running at the capacity that we would normally be because it is so much hotter,” she said. “If they're sitting at a table, and they're going home, ‘oh my god, it's so hot in here.’ Just imagine how it is for the servers and the support staff who are running around in the heat and for the kitchen staff who are stuck over those hot grills and in front of that hot convection oven.”

Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.