The Snack Stall After Two O'Clock
During the school fete, eight Class 11 students are allowed to run a snack stall behind the canteen. The menu is murukku and lemon rice. The equipment is one LPG stove with a cylinder, two knives and a table. No gloves or aprons are provided. The floor near the hand-wash tap has been wet since morning, and water from the tap splashes onto the electrical switchboard used for the mixer. The LPG cylinder is kept lying on its side under the table. A first-aid box in the corner contains only two expired bandage rolls. One of the eight students has asthma. About 200 customers are expected between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. On the day, the teacher in charge leaves at 2 p.m. for a meeting and tells the students to "manage somehow". At 2:20 p.m., a student splashes hot oil on her forearm while lifting the kadai.
1. Identify five hazards in this stall, classify each by type, and rank the top two using likelihood × severity on a 1–5 scale. Justify the ranking.
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| Hazard | Type | Likelihood | Severity | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hot oil and open flame handled by untrained students, no supervisor after 2 p.m. | Physical (burns, fire) | 4 | 4 | 16 |
| LPG cylinder lying on its side under a work table | Physical / chemical (fire, explosion) | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| Water splashing onto the live switchboard | Electrical | 2 | 5 | 10 |
| Wet floor near the tap | Physical (slip, fall) | 4 | 2 | 8 |
| Knives used without a cutting board or gloves | Physical (cuts) | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Expired first-aid stock; no adult present | Organisational (delayed response) | 5 | 3 | 15 |
Top two: hot oil/flame (16) and the LPG cylinder (15). Both rank high because severity is severe - a burn or a cylinder leak in a crowded fete injures children, not stock. The LPG score is driven by severity 5 even though likelihood is only 3, because liquid petroleum gas is heavier than air: a leaking cylinder lying on its side pools gas at floor level under the table where a flame is lit. The unattended hot oil scores highest because likelihood is high: eight untrained students, 200 customers and no supervisor is a situation where an accident is expected, not merely possible. The expired first-aid box is ranked too because it multiplies the severity of every other hazard.
2. Using the hierarchy of controls, propose controls for the top two risks - at least one each at elimination/substitution, engineering, administrative and PPE level. Explain why PPE alone is the weakest answer.
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Elimination: stop frying at the stall. Make the murukku at home or in the canteen before 11 a.m. and serve it cold, or drop it from the menu. No hot oil on the premises removes the hazard instead of managing it - the most reliable control available to a school event.
Substitution: if something hot must be served, replace the LPG stove with an electric rice cooker or induction plate on a properly earthed circuit, and replace deep-frying with boiling. Replace the loose cylinder with a small, properly connected one used only by an adult.
Engineering: stand the cylinder upright, outside the stall, strapped and away from flame, with a hose checked for cracks and a soap-water leak test before lighting; a guard rail or counter separating customers from the cooking table by at least a metre; a non-slip mat and a drainage channel or dry mop near the tap; the switchboard moved or covered with a splash-proof enclosure and an earth-leakage breaker.
Administrative: a trained adult present at all times as a written condition of opening; a ten-minute briefing and demonstration before 11 a.m.; only two named students at the stove at a time with 30-minute rotation; a restocked, in-date first-aid box with burn dressing; a school-signed checklist; and a rule that cooking stops when the supervisor leaves.
PPE: aprons, closed non-slip shoes, heat-resistant gloves and eye protection for those at the stove.
Why PPE is weakest: it protects only the wearer, only if it is worn correctly and continuously, it fails without warning, and it does nothing about the leaking cylinder or the live switchboard. It is the last line, not the plan.
3. State the immediate first aid for the hot-oil burn and the reporting steps. Then answer the bigger question: should the stall have been allowed to open at all? Give your reasoning.
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Immediate first aid: stop the burning - move her away from the stove and switch off the gas. Remove jewellery or clothing near the burn only if it is not stuck to the skin. Cool the area under cool running water for about 20 minutes; do not apply oil, toothpaste, turmeric or ice, and do not burst blisters. Cover loosely with a clean, non-fluffy cloth, keep her warm, and watch for dizziness or shock. Send for the teacher and, for a large or deep burn, for medical help.
Reporting: inform the teacher in charge at once and the head teacher if she is unavailable; inform the parents; record the incident in the school accident register with time, cause and treatment; restock the first-aid box; review what failed.
Should the stall have opened? Not in the condition described. A cylinder on its side, a live switchboard under a splashing tap, an expired first-aid box and no gloves are pre-conditions that were never met, and telling untrained students to "manage somehow" transfers an adult's duty of care to children who cannot legally consent to that risk. If the stall was already running, the correct decision at 2 p.m. was to stop all cooking and sell only pre-cooked items. The reasoning is simple: risk control requires a competent supervisor present, and when that condition fails, the safe action is to stop the hazardous activity, not to continue and hope.