In October 2010, a worker at a fast food outlet received severe burns as they removed hot food from a microwave oven. The container used was a plastic 6 litre microwave container, appropriate for reheating and advertised as part of a food storage system. However, it was not an appropriate container for cooking frozen peas for 10 minutes.
The plastic container became very hot and flexible producing a funnel effect when removed from the microwave oven. The contents poured down the front of the worker who received third degree burns to the chest requiring skin grafts. The worker was not wearing personal protective equipment.
A written procedure for cooking in the microwave oven was available. However, the worker was only told what to do and what they were told was not a safe way to complete the task.
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