Burns, cuts and dehydration are what some students have to show for after dedicating themselves to their hospitality management major.

Despite strict safety precautions, students taking HPM 115: ‘Food Science’ and HPM 216: ‘Restaurant and Food Service Operations’ have been injuring themselves during lab sections.

HPM 115 is a class in which first-year students investigate the science behind cooking in a kitchen setting. In HPM 216, students explore what it is like to run and be part of a functional restaurant. The class prepares and serves real meals to a select group of 40 people who purchased tickets at the beginning of the semester. The classes include a six-hour kitchen lab once a week, either on a Tuesday or Thursday

‘We establish very early on that this is an environment that they aren’t used to yet,’ said MaryAnn Kiernan, an instructor of one of the HPM 216 classes.

Factors like a lack of experience, improper hydration, hunger, exhaustion and the occasional hangover leave students unprepared for six-hour labs, said Kiernan and Josie Pimentel, a learning assistant in an HPM 115 class and a junior hospitality management major. Despite these setbacks, there have not been many major accidents — just a few scrapes and burns.

‘It’s kind of expected that when you are in an intense kitchen environment, accidents are bound to happen,’ Pimentel said.

In the HPM 115 lab, someone passes out from dehydration and overheating every week on average, Pimentel said. In these cases, the instructor will follow procedure and call the Department of Public Safety, turning the student over to a safety officer. This protocol is meant to eliminate panic and unneeded stress.

‘We work very hard to minimize the stress level,’ said Kiernan, who cited cooking shows like ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ and ‘Top Chef’ as accurate depictions of kitchen-based stresses.

Kristina Mallon, a freshman nutrition science major, is one student who has felt the kitchen’s pressures.

During one of her lab blocks, she began to feel lightheaded and hot within the first 20 minutes. A classmate asked her if she was feeling all right, but she could only shake her head as a response. Her instructor, Nancy Rissler, noticed her pale complexion and sat her down in another room.

‘I didn’t exactly pass out, but I’m sure if I had been standing a few more seconds, I could have,’ she said. ‘As soon as I was seated, I started feeling fine.’

Despite feeling better, she still showed symptoms of dehydration and was brought to Syracuse University Health Services by an ambulance. Health Services told Mallon that she needed to eat a better breakfast before going to her 9:30 a.m. lab.

Lauren Wannermeyer, a junior hospitality management major, had two incidents this year in which she sustained injuries during a lab. The first was while using a double boiler to melt chocolate.

Wannermeyer thought she could touch the pan without extra protection because she was wearing gloves required for students with painted nails. However, when she grabbed the pan, it melted through her gloves and burned her hands.

‘It’s just people being absentminded,’ Pimentel said.

She sustained her second injury, a facial burn, when opening a powerful steam oven with her face directly in front of it. The steam escaped when she opened the door and instantly burned her face.In both of these cases, Wannermeyer’s professor immediately instructed her on proper ways to treat the burns, which prevented blistering and further injury.

‘There are definitely protocols in play,’ Wannermeyer said. ‘Whether or not people follow them is where the problem lies.’

There are many safety precautions set to avoid these injuries, the biggest being the dress code.

‘The chef’s uniform is one of the most highly recognized uniforms, aside from doctors,’ Kiernan said. The double-button coat helps protect against heat and other kitchen hazards.

At the beginning of the semester, the professors explicitly lay out the rules. In Wannermeyer’s class, the rules were recently reiterated to keep students safe throughout the year.

‘When the dust settles, I would guess 80 percent of the time, it was operator error,’ Kiernan said.

Because accidents sometimes happen, there is no real solution to these problems, Kiernan said. People learn from their mistakes, and experience plays a major factor when avoiding and coping with injuries.

‘There are going to be occupational hazards, it’s the nature of the beast,’ Kiernan said.

One thing the department has done to lessen the amount of injuries is move the HPM 115 labs to a later time. Kiernan said the 8 a.m. time was too early because students weren’t ready at that hour.

In Kiernan’s 8 a.m. HPM 216 lab, she gives students anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour to wake up a little more by debriefing them on what they’ll be working on before they actually start cooking.

Despite the potential dangers, people stick with the class and seem to enjoy it.

‘I love going to HPM 115. It’s definitely one of my favorite classes, and I really enjoy instructor Rissler,’ said Mallon. ‘I also love learning to make different foods, and taking to-go boxes back with me is always a plus.’

In all the minor incidents that have occurred, no one has been severely hurt, mainly due to the professors’ experience and their ability to handle dangerous situations.

Wannermeyer said: ‘They really are an amazing presence in the kitchen.’

aedibias@syr.edu

Published on November 1, 2010 at 12:00 pm