Role guide · Bakery
Bakery work is a hot trade that starts before dawn: ovens on full, prove rooms humid, and a hazard the public never guesses — flour dust, one of the UK's leading causes of occupational asthma. The kit list balances heat, breathability and a respirator question most bakeries have to take seriously.
The job
Heat is constant and contact-shaped: trays, deck oven doors and racks at temperatures that brand — so the kit is EN 407 contact-heat gloves or traditional heavy oven cloths (many bakers still prefer cloth for feel; gauntlets win for rack work), long sleeves in breathable cotton-rich fabric against forearm burns (the melt logic matters near ovens), and aprons that take floury, doughy punishment daily.
Flour dust is the serious one: it sensitises — baker's asthma is among the most common occupational asthmas in Britain — and the controls are process first (lidded bins, careful tipping, dust-reduced flour dusting) with FFP2/FFP3 respiratory protection where tipping and mixing generate clouds; industrial and craft bakeries increasingly write RPE into the mixing-room routine with fit testing behind it. The wardrobe around it is hygiene whites in the lightest workable weights (prove rooms are saunas), hair coverage per the food rules, and slip-rated washable footwear — flour on a smooth floor is as slippery as any oil, and it's everywhere by 6am.
The list
| Item | The spec | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Heat protection | EN 407 gloves / oven cloths per preference | Trays and decks brand instantly |
| Whites | Lightweight breathable, hot-washable | 4am oven rooms are hot rooms |
| RPE at mixing | FFP2/FFP3 where flour clouds form | Baker's asthma is dose-driven — protect early |
| Aprons | Heavy cotton, changed per shift | Dough and flour, absorbed daily |
| Footwear | Slip-rated, washable | Flour is the invisible oil slick |
Questions
Yes — flour is a respiratory sensitiser and baker's asthma is one of the UK's most common occupational asthmas. Exposure control starts with process (careful tipping, lidded bins) and adds FFP2/FFP3 respiratory protection where dust clouds form, especially at mixing and flour handling. Once sensitised, a baker often can't work bakeries again.
EN 407-rated contact-heat gloves or gauntlets for rack and deck work, though many craft bakers keep traditional heavy oven cloths for feel at the peel. Either way the spec is contact heat — trays run at temperatures that burn instantly — and dry: wet cloth conducts heat straight through.
The same hygiene logic as chefs — soil shows, hot washes and bleaching keep it audit-clean — in lighter fabric weights because bakeries run hot. The full reasoning lives in our 'why chefs wear white' explainer; bakeries add flour to the argument.
Everything in this guide is stocked, embroiderable and priced for teams — send the headcount.