[Risk assessment for food preparation, cooking and service]

The restaurant and food preparation, cooking and distribution sector includes hotels, restaurants, catering, fast food, ecc. The restaurant and food preparation, cooking and distribution sector form a significant part of the Italian economy; they provide employment for a large number of people, both direct employees as well as part-time and contract staff. In this sector there are many hazards that can lead to a broad range of injuries and/or diseases to the workers. For the safety these hazards principally are slick floors, open flames, high temperature cooking surfaces, steam, knives and other cutting instruments and machineries. For the health: cleaning and disinfecting chemicals substances, cooking fumes and vapors, biological agents, heavy loads handling, thermal comfort, ecc. The paper presents an overview of the hazards in the sector and then make a focus on chemical risks identification and assessment to evaluate the workers' exposure (by skin adsorption and inhalation).