Giving Thanks for Safety – What to do with leftovers?

Staying safe around the holidays is important and the hazards
around the Thanksgiving holiday can pose different challenges.
Distracted driving, food poisoning, and burns are the three most
frequent causes of injuries during the Thanksgiving holiday
period.  Find out more about these and what one company did
with it’s Thanksgiving leftovers on this episode of the MEMIC
Safety Experts Podcast.


Resources and Links:


 



NSC.org – Injury Facts - https://injuryfacts.nsc.org/


Tedx – Heather Stagl -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79LI2fkNZ2k


Tedx – Peter Anderton -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDsMlmfLjd4


MEMIC Safety Net Blog –


YouTube – Belgin Texting While Driving test -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2FHKVzGhgA


YouTube – Distracted Driving Shocker -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbjSWDwJILs


MEMIC Safety Director Login – www.memic.com/workplacesafety


NY Daily News – Turkey Fryer Fire -
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-turkey-deep-frying-deep-massachusetts-woman-injured-homes-destroyed-20201127-53nf6t3ymvffzjdx3qv4hhabla-story.html


Alton Brown Turkey Derrick -
https://altonbrown.com/how-to-build-a-turkey-derrick/


Turkey Fryer Stats -
https://www.austintexas.gov/sites/default/files/files/Fire/Articles/TurkeyFryerFiresStats.pdf


SlowMo Guys – Oil Fire -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbgdRR4yj8Y


USDA – Turkey: Alternate Routes -
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/poultry-preparation/turkey-alternate-routes-to-the-table/CT_Index


CDC Food borne illness -
https://www.cdc.gov/foodborneburden/index.html


Food Safety – Cooking Temps -
https://www.foodsafety.gov/food-safety-charts/safe-minimum-cooking-temperature


260 Tons of Turkey -
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/how-leftover-turkey-launched-the-tv-dinner


Leftover Safety -
https://www.foodnetwork.com/holidays-and-parties/articles/food-safety-storing-thanksgiving-leftovers


 


Peter Koch: [00:00:04] Hello, listeners, and
welcome to the MEMIC Safety Experts podcast, I'm your host,
Peter Koch, and thanks for listening today. We have another
installment of our fractional safety series where we don't jump
in so deep into a topic, but just give you the highlights. And
in this episode, we talk about safety around the Thanksgiving
holiday. Why Thanksgiving? Well, there are some unique
circumstances that can make the hazards and exposure around
this holiday a little bit different than what you might see
with others. But before we dig in, did you know that on
November 11th, two thousand twenty one, the MEMIC Safety
Experts podcast just celebrated our two year anniversary?
Hopefully, you've enjoyed listening as much as the team here
has enjoyed putting the episodes together for you, and to help
us understand more of what safety content you like. Be sure to
drop me a note at podcast@MEMIC.com To let me know if you like
the shorter episodes like this one or one where we go into a
deeper dive with a guest.


Peter Koch: [00:01:00] So [00:01:00] jumping
right into it? Here's a holiday dilemma for you what happens
when you cook way more than you have people for? Well, more
specifically, what do you do with five hundred and twenty
thousand pounds of leftover turkey? Yep. Five hundred and
twenty thousand pounds of leftover turkey. You heard me right?
And if the first thing that popped into your head was freeze
it, then you're on the right track. Way more practical than I
am, because the first thing that popped into my head was, where
would you even put it? The answer to that question about
leftover turkeys will come a little bit later, but for now,
let's think hard about holiday safety and leaving aside, but
not forgetting the history of Thanksgiving and the treatment of
Native Americans that will forever be part of the American
story. This November holiday can be used to find gratitude and
appreciation for family, friends, neighbors and dignity of
those in our extended communities. The days before, during and
after Thanksgiving are usually filled [00:02:00] with
preparation, decoration and celebration, and each carries their
own share of exposures that sometimes cause injury and
sometimes can turn tragic. According to numerous internet
sources and my own personal experience, the top three injury
causes around the November holiday are traffic accidents, fires
and either food poisoning or some sort of alcohol related
event. Think about food poisoning and that two hundred and
sixty tons of leftover turkey now that could be a recipe for
disaster if it got out. So before we go there, let's talk about
traffic first. Did you know that the National Safety Council
has a holiday traffic fatality estimate report they put out for
each year? So if you go to injuryfacts.NSC.org and search
holiday traffic, you'll find it. And for the Thanksgiving
holiday period for two thousand twenty one, the National Safety
Council estimates that four hundred and eighty five people will
die in the United States from traffic [00:03:00] accidents.
That's second only to the Independence Day holiday period, with
an estimate of four hundred and eighty two traffic fatalities.
So why is Thanksgiving travel different? There are many
possibilities, such as road rage, impairment, fatigue and even
weather. But regardless of the reasons, one fact is the sheer
number of travelers around Thanksgiving. The Thanksgiving
holiday period sees the highest usage of the interstate system
than any other holiday period, and we've had a reprieve this
last year with the COVID travel restrictions. But this holiday,
the National Safety Council is expecting another increase. So
if you're traveling or have employees traveling around the
holiday period, try these driving safety tips.


Peter Koch: [00:03:43] First plan ahead. Be
sure your vehicle is in good condition and allow for extra time
around your travel. Nothing drives road rage and aggressive
decisions like the combination of traffic jams and a tight time
schedule. If you're an employer of drivers, then considering
allowing [00:04:00] extra time this time of year to get the job
done, and there's a lot of psychology around leadership and
behavior change and leading teams around production
expectations is a lot more nuanced than you think. So check out
this TED talk about how to deal with resistance to change with
Heather Stegall. Or there's another talk about how great
leadership only has two rules by Peter Anderton. We'll leave
the links in the show notes, and I think these are pretty good
things for you to watch and maybe get some ideas about how to
lead some change around the holiday season. So now that you
have enough time to get where you want to go, be sure that you
can stay alert so alertness can take many different forms and
first is to just stay awake. People fall asleep at the wheel
all the time and caused fatal traffic accidents. Or sometimes
they're lucky and they wake up just before something happens
and they're able to manage it. But really, be sure that you're
well-rested before even starting the trip. If you start from
fatigue, that will only exacerbate the problems that we face
when traveling [00:05:00] and along the drive. You should find
time to stop and get out to get the circulation going. The old
adage that the brain can only take with the butt can withstand
goes for driving too, getting up and getting moving. Gets the
blood flowing and will help with alertness, as well as making
you feel better at the end of the journey. Interested in some
quick exercises and stretches that can help for the long haul?
We'll check out the stretching posts at the MEMIC Safety Net
blog. The links will be in the show notes, but you can search
at any time you want by going to MEMIC.com/WorkplaceSafety Find
the safety net blog and just search for stretches.


Peter Koch: [00:05:37] Now that you are awake,
stay on task and avoid distractions. Your brain can't manage
the phone or even an in-depth conversation combined with the
demands of a changing driving environment. You may think you
can, but what you're really doing at any given point when
driving and doing something else is using old information to
respond to the current situation. Think about it before you
[00:06:00] look up from your phone or return your attention to
the road. Your brain has been using information from the last
time that you were fully engaged and has been making
assumptions about speed, trajectory based on experience and
that information. So when you look back and the roadway,
suddenly changes surprise a curve, a pothole pedestrian,
another vehicle, an animal. Whatever it is, your brain has to
readjust to the current environment and make a snap decision.
Do I turn? Do I slow down? Do I speed up? Do I swerve? Maybe I
do it all together, and that readjustment takes time. And if
you add speed and other people's decisions into the mix, then
it's a recipe for disaster. What can you do besides being
rested? Put the cell phone on Do Not Disturb and keep it out of
sight because no call or text or post is really worth it. If
you need it for navigation, put in a place that's not going to
be in the way and that you can reference it only when you need
to get [00:07:00] to where you're going. If you want to see an
interesting video on texting while driving, I'll leave a link
to one in the show notes. It's where Belgian learner drivers
react to being told that they had to pass a mobile phone usage
proficiency test in order to get their driver's license. It's
pretty funny, so the instructor sits in the car with them and
actually tells them that they have to text while driving and
they're on a closed track so that there's no other things that
are going to get in the way, but they're still having to text
and drive at the same time. Their reactions are pretty
hilarious, and it's funny to see what the instructor has to do
just to keep them on the road. So these are just a couple of
tips of having a good journey. And if you're interested in
more, you can go over to the CDC and search for holiday road
safety. Or if you're a MEMIC policyholder, you can go to the
MEMIC Safety Director at www.MEMIC.com/WorkplaceSafety for more
good information.


Peter Koch: [00:07:59] Now that you've arrived
[00:08:00] safely, what's the next most frequent cause of
injury over the Thanksgiving holiday? Well, burns from hot
pans, liquids and utensils or from fires. Lets take the burns
from hot pans or utensils first. This is a pretty easy one, so
just assume, assume I know it's crazy, but just assume that
everything in the kitchen is hot. Sure, you might have asbestos
hands, but not everybody does. So you should keep some good
oven mitts or pot holders handy in the kitchen and then use
them. You'll be surprised how a little leading by example will
set the stage for others to follow. So the next are hot liquids
and lots of things that we cook have liquid in or on them. And
from the water we boil to the fat's used to cook or are the
result of cooking spilled hot liquids can cause significant
burns. I had the opportunity to review the unfortunate
opportunity to review an injury report from a commercial
kitchen [00:09:00] where a line cook was moving a pot of
boiling water from the stove to the sink to drain. And he
bumped into someone behind him just as he started moving and
the water sloshed out of the pot onto his foot and into his
shoe. He had second and third degree burns on the top of his
foot and couldn't wear a shoe for weeks. It was a pretty
miserable injury for him, and I remember having a conversation
with him after reviewing the written report, and he's like, You
know, I really didn't think that this was going to happen. I've
been in the kitchen for years. I'm really good at this. I knew
what I was doing. He just at that point in time, lost
situational awareness, didn't know who was behind him, didn't
check his back. The person that was walking past him didn't see
what was going on and the circumstances combined with what he
was wearing to cause some pretty substantial burns and injuries
to him. So here are some extra tips when dealing with hot
liquids in the kitchen. Well, commercial or otherwise, whether
you're working over the Thanksgiving holiday, [00:10:00]
preparing meals for the rest of us who might be going out, or
you're preparing a meal for family and friends at home. So the
first? Don't overfill the pot or container when it's filled
right to the top or close to it, there's much less room for
error. So a pot that's filled right up to the top and you bump
it or slosh it, it's going to come out, it's going to overflow.
And chances are it could drop onto your hand or your foot or
someone else. So second, use covers when moving containers with
hot liquid or really anything in them. A container with a top
on it can help keep the liquid where it belongs. If it needs to
cool, then uncover it after moving. Next, consider using a cart
to move pots with hot liquids in them, especially if you are in
a commercial setting and are moving containers from one station
to another. Using a cart will help keep the hot liquid at a
distance if a spill happens and you out of the danger zone.
Last but really, there's other things that you can consider to
but last in this list is always [00:11:00] wear close toed,
slip resistant shoes in the kitchen. Slippers, socks, sandals,
pumps or other shoes with open toes or holes in the toes have
no business in the kitchen. Many times liquids get spilled
because someone slips, or if someone has slipped, it could be
because someone has spilled something so slip resistant.
Footwear for the kitchen is a key prevention tool.


Peter Koch: [00:11:24] Now let's talk about
burns from fires, not consider this. You've decided to fry a
turkey for Thanksgiving, so you make room in the carport,
garage or deck because you want it to be outside. Break out the
turkey fryer, add your oil, crank up the burner and then head
to get the turkey that's been thawing in the fridge overnight.
You size the turkey when you bought it, so it will fit into the
pot and you made sure to place the fryer just outside the
carport or garage so that you can still stay out of the
elements while you're cooking good to go right? What could go
wrong? Well, it turns out [00:12:00] a lot could go wrong. Did
you know that the U.S. fire departments respond to more than
one thousand deep fryer related fires every year? This includes
the fires caused by improper use of a turkey fryer, too. In
2020, the New York Daily Times reported on a Thanksgiving Day
fire that left three homes destroyed and a woman seriously
injured. It was expected that the fire was caused by a turkey
fryer. You can read the whole article from the link in the show
notes, but it was a pretty devastating fire where actually the
propane tank exploded as well, so they're not exactly sure what
happened. But there's multiple ways for that particular
situation to happen. If you do find yourself eyeing that turkey
fryer to move the turkey cooking tradition outside. Be sure to
follow the manufacturer's instructions and use these safety
practices. So first, do a perimeter check. Keep the area around
above and below the fryer free from any flammable or
combustible [00:13:00] material like trees, ceilings, decks,
people, decorations, whatever. Keep the space kid and pet free
as well. Second, level it up. Place the fryer on a low stable
surface that allows you to lift the turkey out of the fryer
easily. If you want to check out a pretty cool in a very
interesting take on getting the bird in and out of the fryer,
check out Alton Brown's Turkey Derrick, and I'm going to leave
a link to that video in the show notes as well. Next, measure
up, so use the correct amount of oil to prevent any spill over,
and it's really important that you do this. You have to measure
the correct amount necessary by first placing the turkey in the
pot with water, and that's going to give you an idea of how
much volume the turkey is going to displace, so that that's the
amount of oil that you can keep in there just enough to cover
the turkey and not too much. So it's going to overflow when you
put the turkey in it. This is going to help you avoid
overflowing the hot oil onto the burner when you load the
turkey into the fryer. Next, [00:14:00] warm it up and pat it
down. And that's all about the turkey. So thaw and dry the
turkey before frying as a partially frozen turkey can cause the
water that's in the turkey when it meets the hot oil to
vaporize instantly, changing to steam and expanding more than
1000 times its original volume. When this happens, the oil will
bubble over and contact the flame underneath. This can, and
when it does happen, it happens explosively. If you want to see
what happens when water hits hot oil, check out the slow mo
guys video about an oil fire at two thousand five hundred
frames a second. The link is in the show notes, and don't try
this at home for sure. Next, turn the flame off first, turn the
burner off before adding or removing the turkey from the fryer.
This will help avoid an explosion or an uncontrolled flame if
you miss any water or frozen bits when inserting the bird. Or
if you misjudge the amount of [00:15:00] oil next. Make
yourself comfortable. Make yourself a comfortable space to hang
out while the turkey is cooking because you want to stay close
enough so that you can tend the fryer and make sure the oil
doesn't get too hot. Most turkey fryers don't have any kind of
temperature regulation, so the oil can be heated to its
ignition point and beyond. And that in itself is a recipe for
disaster. So last, and this is just for prevention, but last,
make sure that you have a fire extinguisher charged and ready.
Make sure it's an ABC or k rated fire extinguisher. You never
want to use water on a grease or oil fire. It's just going to
spread the fuel. If you're looking for more safety tips around
different ways to cook your bird. Check out an article the USDA
put out recently called Turkey alternate routes to the table.


Peter Koch: [00:15:50] After burns, the next
most frequent cause of injury is around food prep and food
safety. Poisoning from poorly prepared food or languishing
leftovers is [00:16:00] really a thing. Even today, the CDC
estimates that 48 million people get sick. One hundred and
28000 are hospitalized and 3000 people die every year from food
borne illness. Some of these incidents occur from bacteria that
contaminates the food at the processing facility. Some come
from cross-contamination when preparing the food, and still,
others happen when people eat improperly stored food.
Regardless of how the food was contaminated, we must rely on
good preparation and storage techniques to ensure the safety of
the food that we consume. Consider the phrase keep cold food
cold and hot food hot when you are preparing or putting away
food this holiday season as hot food cools and cold food warms.
Bacteria can start to grow at some level of temperature and
time. Food can go bad and, if consumed, can cause food
poisoning. If the dish or the ingredients are designed to be
served hot or cold, then keep [00:17:00] them that way. Plan on
serving smaller portions and leave the balance in the warmer or
in the fridge ready to refill the serving dish. Check out
FoodSafety.gov for more information about minimum cooking
temperatures. We're going to put some links in the show notes
for that one as well.


Peter Koch: [00:17:16] So let's end with
leftovers and the answer to the question of what do you do with
two hundred and sixty tons or five hundred and twenty thousand
pounds of leftover turkey? So the story goes in 1953, the CA
Swanson and Co. slightly overestimated the demand for
Thanksgiving turkeys that year and found themselves with 260
tons of leftover turkey, and they had to store it in the
railcars. So in the 1930s, refrigeration was still just
beginning to become a common thing in the households. And by
1950, there were still limitations, especially around
transportation of refrigerated foods or frozen foods. At that
time, [00:18:00] when Swanson made that overestimation, the
refrigeration units on the railcars only worked when the train
was moving. So the company recognized that unless the train
kept the moving, the turkeys with thaw and then spoil. So to
preserve the frozen birds cold food cold, remember the railcars
they were stored on were sent back and forth between the
company's headquarters in Nebraska and the East Coast until the
company could figure out what to do with them. Legend has it
that eventually these turkeys were turned into Swanson's first
frozen dinners. Pretty interesting story. So if you're looking
for more about that and how they came to determine what to do
with all these turkeys and how they made a frozen dinner and
how frozen dinners really took off, you can check out the story
at National Geographic.com And we'll leave a link for that one,
too. In the show notes So good thing modern refrigeration
doesn't rely on locomotion anymore.


Peter Koch: [00:18:55] So to keep your dinner
ready for yummy leftovers, follow these tips. First. [00:19:00]
Don't let them languish. Cool your leftovers as quickly as
possible. Don't let them sit out on the table waiting for
everyone to wake up after the game before you start to put them
away. Always use clean containers for your leftovers instead of
wrapping the existing serving dishes. Number three. Think
shallow pack leftovers in shallow containers, and this is going
to help with the cooling process so that it'll pass more
quickly from the warm stage to the cold stage and prevent
bacteria from growing quickly. Number four. Consider short term
storage only in the refrigerator. You want to keep your
leftovers in the fridge for only up to four days any longer.
Can allow bacteria to begin to grow. We've all found that
container of what used to be food long lost in the back of the
fridge. Food doesn't need to be green and fuzzy or slimy in
orange to be dangerous. It just takes a little bit of bacteria
that we consume to put us into a state of food poisoning.
[00:20:00] So number five and last for this particular list is
keep frozen, so when we think about preservation, the colder,
the better and frozen can keep something preserved for a long
time. So you want to freeze any leftovers that you want to keep
longer than four days. And if you package these in smaller
portions for freezing, it makes the thawing and rewarming
easier later on. And you don't have to take out a huge
container of turkey or potatoes or sweet potatoes or vegetables
and thaw the whole thing for just a small meal, for lunch, or
maybe for dinner at a different time. If you're looking for
more leftover food safety tips, check out the article from the
Food Network that we're going to leave in. The show notes there
as well.


Peter Koch: [00:20:47] So there's a lot more
that we can talk about but this is going to wrap up our
fractional safety episode of the Safety Experts podcast. So
today, remember that we've been talking about the three most
frequent causes of injuries around Thanksgiving, and they were
[00:21:00] traffic accidents or driving burns and then food
poisoning. If you'd like to hear more about a past topic or
have an idea for an episode, then email me at
podcast@MEMIC.com. Also, check out our show notes at
MEMIC.com/podcast, where you can find additional resources and
links to the articles that I referenced, as well as our entire
podcast archive. And while you're there, sign up for the Safety
Net blog so you never miss any of our articles or safety news
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continued support and until next time, this is Peter [00:22:00]
Koch reminding you that listening to the MEMIC Safety Experts
podcast is good, but using what you learned here is even
better.