Knife and Tools Policy for Chefs: Pay, Insurance, Carrying

Decide three things before a Japanese chef's first shift: who owns the knives on your line, who pays when a tool requirement would cut into a low wage, and whether your insurance covers a knife that is lost, damaged or stolen at work (usually it does not, unless you ask for it). This page gives a copy-paste policy in English and Japanese, the pay rule we could verify, and the insurance questions to put to your broker before you need the answer.

1. Own knives or house knives?

A Japanese chef's knives are personal: a yanagiba for sashimi, a deba for breaking down fish, an usuba for vegetables, often bought as an apprentice and hand-sharpened for years. Expect them to want to use their own, and to care who touches them.

Whatever you choose, keep a register: each personal knife brought in, with a photo, a short description and the owner's name. It settles arguments on departure and supports an insurance claim.

2. Who pays: the principle, and one worked example

The principle, confirmed in the US, Australia and the UK in different forms: requiring staff to supply their own tools cannot push their pay below the legal minimum wage or its equivalent. Above that floor, most places leave the arrangement to the employer. We could not confirm an equivalent published rule for Singapore, Canada or the EU markets this site covers; apply the same principle as a safe default and check locally.

California is the clearest worked example. Wage Order 5 requires the employer to provide and maintain tools the job requires, unless the employee earns at least twice the state minimum wage (from 1 January 2026, $16.90/hour, so $33.80), in which case the employer may require customary hand tools. So a cook near minimum wage cannot be asked to bring their own knives; a senior chef paid well above double the minimum may be. Australia's Restaurant Industry Award 2020, clause 21.4, instead pays a flat tool allowance ($2.03 a day, up to $9.94 a week) plus reimbursement for required knives, regardless of pay level. The UK folds the cost into its minimum wage check: an unreimbursed tool purchase that drops pay below the National Living Wage fails compliance.

3. Insurance: what your policy probably does not cover

Ask your broker this directly: standard commercial property or contents policies are written around property the business owns, and usually exclude or cap cover for employee-owned property unless specifically added. A personal knife set worth several thousand dollars can easily exceed a policy's default limit for "employees' personal effects," often only a few hundred.

• Ask whether employee-owned tools are covered at all, under which section, and up to what limit per item and in total.
• Ask about a declared-value schedule: a list attached to the policy of specific high-value items (a named knife, its replacement value, sometimes a photo) the insurer agrees to cover up to that value, for extra premium. Without one, a lost hand-forged knife is likely valued at a generic replacement cost, not what it is worth.
• Ask what triggers a claim (theft, fire, a kitchen accident) and who claims, the chef or the restaurant.
• Write the answer into your policy: state plainly whether personal knives are covered, and if not, that the chef may want their own contents insurance.

4. Carrying knives to and from work

England and Wales

Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 makes it an offence to have a bladed or pointed article in public; folding pocketknives with a cutting edge of 3 inches or less are excluded. Proving good reason or lawful authority is a defence, and the Act names "for use at work" as an example, but the person carrying the knife must prove it. Northern Ireland has an equivalent provision; Scotland's criminal law is separate. Practical rule: carry only when needed, wrapped in a closed case or roll, go directly, and store knives at the restaurant wherever possible. Section 141A separately bans selling knives to under-18s in England and Wales; supply their knives if you employ them.

Japan and elsewhere

Japan's Swords and Firearms Control Law (銃砲刀剣類所持等取締法), Article 22, bans carrying a blade longer than 6cm except for work or another legitimate reason; keep knives packed for travel, not on the person, even for a trip to the airport. Knife-carrying law differs by country and, in the US, by state and city; we could not verify one rule for every market this site covers, so apply the same habit everywhere: carry only when needed, packed and out of sight, directly between home and work.

5. The written policy, ready to use

Fill in the brackets and put this in the contract pack alongside the employment contract checklist, in both languages.

6. Before the chef leaves Japan

Knife logistics belong in your pre-arrival pack, not in this policy. Cover packing knives in checked luggage (airlines vary; most, including the US TSA, ban knives in carry-on but allow them checked and sheathed or wrapped), customs declarations at the destination, and shipping by courier as an alternative, in onboarding a chef from Japan and relocation packages.

General information, not legal or insurance advice. Pay, weapons and insurance rules vary by country, state and city, and insurance policies vary by insurer; check local rules and your own policy wording before setting a knife policy.