OSHA Oven Safety

Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) requires your commercial bakery oven to be inspected by qualified persons on a regular basis. It’s easy to comply with the help of Reading Thermal and our SCORPION® 2 Profiling System.

Reading Thermal, a Reading Bakery Systems brand headquartered in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, has specialized in the science of commercial baking processes for more than 25 years. We manufacture and support the state-of-the-art SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger. No other system makes achieving desired levels of food safety so simple.

OSHA Safety Regulations for Bakery Ovens

Section 1910.263 of the OSHA regulations covers oven inspections:

(1)(vii) “Ovens shall be located so that possible fire or explosion will not expose groups of persons to possible injury. For this reason, ovens shall not adjoin lockers, lunch or sales rooms, main passageways or exits.”

(9) (ii) “All safety devices on ovens shall be inspected at intervals of not less than twice a month by an especially appointed, properly instructed bakery employee, and not less than once a year by representatives of the oven manufacturers.”

FAQs About Oven Safety and Inspections

  • How does OSHA define a “safety device”?

“Safety devices” are fail-safe devices and other safety components that are installed to ensure that explosions do not develop within an oven. The devices are installed to safely shut down the oven automatically in the event a hazardous condition occurs.

Safety devices differ from “protecting devices” that protect employees from fire and explosion hazards when a safety device doesn’t keep a hazardous condition from developing. Automatic fire sprinklers and explosion vents are examples of protecting devices.

  • Is a visual inspection sufficient or must the employee who performs the twice-monthly inspections actually test the safety devices?

The standard does not explicitly require testing of safety devices. However, OSHA states that the requirements are performance-oriented to ensure the devices are working properly. To do this, the employee should base their inspection program on generally accepted engineering experience.

  • Who can perform annual oven inspections?

OSHA states that all safety devices must be inspected by “representatives of the oven manufacturer” at least once a year. This can be a challenge, because the original manufacturer may no longer be in business.

Consequently, OSHA permits inspections to be conducted by qualified representatives of any oven manufacturer that is knowledgeable about safety and has the training and experience to verify the safe operational characteristics of the equipment. This could be the OEM, their designated representative, or any trained representative of a competitor manufacturer.

Oven Safety Inspections

Reading Thermal is qualified to perform oven safety inspections on most commercial ovens, regardless of manufacturer.

  • All safety devices are checked against our multi-point Equipment Inspection Check List.
  • You must provide the oven’s electrical control diagrams and assign one maintenance person who is familiar with the equipment and specific control functions. It will help if this person is the one who performs your biweekly inspections.
  • We perform benchmark profiling of your oven using the state-of-the-art SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger.
  • We provide a detailed Oven Safety Inspection Report to be filed with your safety records. The report will contain the inspection results and oven benchmark profiles.

Count on the Reading Thermal SCORPION® 2 Profiling System and Data Logger to keep you in compliance with OSHA oven safety regulations. Call us at (610) 678-5890 Ext. 2, or contact us online to learn more about our innovative products.