Exploding tandoors endanger Indian restaurants

by Paul Conneally | February 18, 2010 at 08:48 am

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Birmingham in the West Midlands of the UK fights it out with Leicester in the East Midlands for the title of Britain's curry capitol but findings by Birmingham health & safety officers reveal just how dangerous a curry kitchen can be.

Following up on a spate of injuries to Indian restaurant chefs and kitchen staff Birmingham City Council officers found that a significant number of modern tandoor ovens were not properly maintained and causing serious burn injuries.

Of 27 curry restaurant's visited only 3 had performed regular maintainance on the tandoor ovens and several enforcement notices were served on the businesses.

Many now feel that similar inspections of the tandoor ovens of restaurants across the UK needs now to take place as the regular health and safety inspections have concentrated more on hygiene and conventional appliances rather than the specialised and sometimes homemade clay tandoors.

"The cylindrical design of the tandoor with an ignition source at the bottom, means that when gas builds up inside and an employee leans in to light it, the oven effectively becomes like a cannon. The potential for injuries is high and that is why we have served a number of enforcement notices”.