Restaurants and their trade associations are justifiably proud of their food safety efforts as shown by the July 27, 2011 announcement by the National Restaurant Association celebrating over one million classes of restaurant industry training. But inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) continue to turn up significant shortcomings in restaurant OSHA compliance – and these issues are not limited to the large institutional setting.

These problems may not result in employee injuries but can greatly harm a restaurant when it experiences a union drive, or complaints by a disgruntled employee who uses OSHA to harass the employer due to unrelated grievances.

Restaurants located in hotels, stadiums, airports and certain states are especially vulnerable to employee or union focus, as illustrated by UNITE HERE's highly publicized use of OSHA ergonomic complaints against Hyatt hotels. Likewise, OSHA just kicked off a Regional Emphasis inspection program including New York, New Jersey, and the Virgin Islands. An even more visible alert was the November 1 OSHA announcement of an "Alliance" with the UNITE HERE supported Restaurant Opportunities Center United (ROC-United), a group focused on restaurant workers' rights.

Even the resurrected Wobblies (the Industrial Workers of the World – a union usually associated with a bygone era) have moved from their union efforts against Starbucks to a focus on Jimmy John's. There can be little doubt that one way or another, restaurants, from chains to stand-alones, will soon see increased OSHA scrutiny.