B.C. restaurant staff struggle to work in relentless heat

As people head to restaurants to enjoy an air conditioned refuge in B.C.'s extreme heat events, kitchen staff are struggling to cope. 

Ashleigh Kola, owner of Victoria, B.C., burger joint, Dead Beetz, says she notices workers using the freezer more often on hot days and adds she is not opposed to them taking more breaks. 

"When someone needs to take [a break]  and then they step outside and the next person fills in and that might mean people have to wait an extra five minutes for their burger," says Kola. 

During the pandemic, Dead Beetz increased ventilation in its restaurant but with unprecedented temperatures, it was not enough. Dead Beetz shut down during the extreme heat event in June. 

"If you don't have the staff that you need, then you don't have a business," says Kola.

Kola also works in the company's food truck and says that experience proves to her just how hard it is to work in those temperatures. 

Barry Nakahara, a spokesperson for WorkSafe BC, says the organization has no plans to implement restaurant specific heat regulations. He says current guidelines which apply to all workplaces are sufficient 

Gabrielle Beauchemin worries service workers may be too afraid to voice their complaints.

Beauchemin, a University of Victoria student who also works in a restaurant, says she feels lucky to be serving tables where it is often cooler.

"The temperatures would just get so insane in the kitchen that these guys would be running into the walk-in freezer every 20 minutes just to sit down and so that they didn't throw up," she says.