Labor offers $12.7 million in safety grants for restaurant workers
Labor is offering $12.7 million for instructor-led safety training, with a July 31 deadline. Taco Bell franchisees could use it to offset burn, slip and chemical training.
The U.S. Department of Labor opened $12.7 million in Susan Harwood Training Grants through OSHA, and small businesses have until Friday, July 31, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. EDT to apply for instructor-led training that helps workers and employers identify and prevent workplace hazards.
The money targets small businesses and industries with high injury, illness and fatality rates, including restaurant work, even though the program is not Taco Bell-specific. In a Taco Bell kitchen, the hazards are familiar: hot oil, slick floors, sharp tools, cleaning chemicals, heavy boxes and a pace that can push new hires to move before they have fully learned the safest way to do the job.
OSHA’s restaurant safety materials for young workers flag cleanup duties as a time when employees can be exposed to equipment and products that create hazards. Its restaurant safety resources stress self-inspection checklists and safe work practices for small businesses. Managers can use the grant to teach burns, slips, cuts, chemical exposure, violence prevention and ergonomics instead of relying on shadowing alone.
For Taco Bell franchisees, safety training affects staffing, speed and turnover. A burned hand, a slip on a wet floor or a strained back can take a crew member off the schedule, slow service and make already thin labor margins worse. Managers could use the grant window to build or expand instructor-led sessions on glove use, floor care, chemical labeling, lifting and carrying, ladder and step-stool procedures and the way closing tasks are handed off to newer workers.
Taco Bell already has public training materials, and the brand posted a newsroom item on March 19, 2020 about safety in its restaurants.
In September 2024, Labor awarded $12.7 million in Susan Harwood grants to 102 nonprofit organizations, and in September 2023 it awarded about $12.7 million to 100 nonprofits. OSHA maintains inspection and citation data, injury and illness data, severe injury and fatality data, and chemical exposure health data.
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