Week 2 Personal Hygiene - We've Got SALSA Sussed!
We've Got SALSA Sussed!
Week 2 Personal Hygiene
This weeks topic has a bit more content to read through, so
I have split it into 3 sections:
1. PPE
/ Uniform, Changing & Laundering
2. Personal
Hygiene Rules
3. Health
/ Medical Screening / Fitness to Work
I have also included
information on Coronavirus – what to ask on your health questionnaire, when to
ask it, what to do with the answers, and what to think about with regards to
social distancing in the work place. There are some really useful links to the
government guidelines and information too….. happy reading!
Please see the attached file for Personal Hygiene for SALSA
sussed…
Personal Hygiene – what do you need to show your SALSA
auditor?
What you need: Personal Hygiene Procedure, Changing
Procedure Posters & Health/Medical Screening Record
Personal Hygiene is one of the
most important parts of any food business, as ‘people’ are the most common
reason for cross contamination! And people are probably the most difficult part
of any business to control as they have a mind of their own….! For this reason,
we need to give our staff members clear instructions of the personal hygiene
rules on our site and make sure they are trained prior to being permitted into
production, this is one of our ‘induction’ topics if you remember from the
Training section last week!
Personal Hygiene Procedure
A personal hygiene procedure should cover everything
mentioned in Section 1.2 of the SALSA standard, and what the business rules are
to ensure they are complied with by staff. Work your way through each
requirement methodically. Remember all the rules apply to you as well as the
staff – lead by example!
You can break it down into 3 sections:
1. PPE/Uniform,
Changing & Laundering
2. Personal
Hygiene Rules
3. Health/Medical
Screening
PPE/Protective Clothing
What PPE / Uniform needs to be worn by staff members?
All sites are different depending on the food or drinks they
are producing, so a site such as a brewery where all of the liquid is enclosed
in tanks and pipework, might have different PPE rules to those of a food site
handling open product, which could be contaminated more easily. Here are a few
suggested guidelines….
·
Hair nets, overcoats and snoods are the industry
norm. This does vary depending on food /drinks category, and can be decided by
means of a risk assessment
·
It is optional to provide footwear for staff
members in low risk facilities, however if you do it is usually white or black
safety shoes. Otherwise they have to provide their own, which you should
specify
·
In high risk facilities you’d expect to see dedicated
footwear, so should be visually different from low risk footwear, and wouldn’t
be removed from the high-risk changing area
·
In addition, for high risk you might have
different colour uniform – this is to prevent from cross contamination with low
risk uniform when laundering
·
For handling allergens or you might use
disposable coats or colour coded aprons and sleeves, or just ensure the coats
are changed after handling allergens to prevent cross contamination onto the
next product
Changing Procedure
It’s a great idea to have posters in the changing rooms for
staff, so that they know what to wear and what order to put it on. Using
pictures for the poster is a good idea too, especially if you have any language
barriers within your team. Here are some guidelines:
·
Shoes first if you provide them
·
Hairnets go on before coats!
·
Overcoats
·
Wash hands
·
Sanitise hands
The rules for high risk might be slightly different as you
may have a barrier system in place:
·
Personal shoes off
·
Hair nets on, and snoods if required
·
Step over the barrier
·
Put dedicated footwear on (which should be
stored in that area)
·
Wash hands
·
Put overcoats on
·
Wash hands
·
Sanitise hands
Hand washing posters are also a great idea, as sometimes,
especially if we employ staff who have not worked in the food industry before,
may not know how to wash their hands correctly.
The changing rooms for staff need
to be in a dedicated area, this should be where the clean uniform is kept and
there is an area for putting dirty laundry ready to be cleaned.
There should also be somewhere for
staff to put their personal belongings such as lockers – or separate segregated
hooks for coats.
Hooks should also be provided for
uniform which is in use, so staff have somewhere to hang PPE when going to the
toilet. Also, when staff are on breaks do not store hairnets on top of coats,
it defies the object of preventing hairs contaminating overcoats!
Signage above all of the hooks is
a good idea so nobody has an excuse to put things in the wrong place!
Laundering
It must be stated in the procedure
which is trained to trained to staff, how often they change their PPE and also
how it should be cleaned – taken home and washed, or laundry service.
Changing - The rule
is usually, change it daily, or if it gets dirty. However, some facilities are
very low risk, and can choose to change uniform less frequently based on risk.
Always remember if you are
handling allergens, you must change PPE after allergen use, although a lot of
businesses use colour coded aprons and sleeves for handling allergens which is
a good idea.
Washing - If uniform
is being washed by staff members, they must wash at 60 degrees and not wash or
dry with anything else to prevent cross contamination. I would only suggest
this if you are a low risk facility.
Laundry Services - If
a laundry company is used, they must also know your rules on washing temperature,
and if you are high risk, washing and drying separately and at higher
temperatures.
Personal Hygiene Rules
You need to be specific with the
rules staff have to adhere to whilst at work. These rules must be clear for
staff to follow such as displaying posters with pictures, especially if you
have any language barriers within your team. You should mention the following:
·
Food & Drinks rules – where
staff are permitted to eat? You should have a designated area this should not
be in storage or production areas. You should have a fridge for staff to store
their food in safely at the correct temperature, which should be temperature
checked along with all other fridges and freezers, and should also have a
weekly clear out to prevent old and out of date food from building up in there.
·
Smoking – designated area, remember to
include e-cigs – outside away from the building, providing a cigarette bin to
ensure the area doesn’t become dirty is a good idea
·
Jewellery rules – this is generally plain
wedding band only and this is best practice. If it was me, I would try to
enforce this from the beginning, however there may be staff who have medical
jewellery which you would have to consider. Piercings which cannot be removed
would have to be controlled by blue plasters.
·
Storage of medicines – should be provided,
and not allowed in the production area unless critical.
·
Storage of keys and mobile phones –
should not be permitted in storage or production areas – this is where lockers are
ideal, or alternatively they can be locked in an office or safe?
·
Hand washing – be specific, literally
state when they have to wash hands
·
Blue plasters – you need to have a blue
plaster record, to signing them out and in at the end of the day, to make sure
its not been lost. If you have a metal detection on site the plaster must be
the metal detectable type!
·
Perfume, aftershave, fingernails and makeup –
the rules need to be clear and simple. Nothing should be worn which can
taint or contaminate the food or drinks! Nothing which can fall off, false
eyelashes and fingernails are a no-no!
Medical / Health Screening
Record
The medical and health screening
record is to assess if a person is suitable to be permitted into your food
production facility.
It is to prevent them from
contaminating your facility if they are ill, have been ill, or carry an
infectious disease.
It is also to protect people from
any allergens you may handle on your site, as the last thing you want is for
someone to have an allergic reaction!
The people who need to complete this
health screening record are:
·
Staff members; pre-employment with
you – you should save it on their staff file
·
Visitors & Contractors before letting
them into any production or storage area. This means anyone who is visiting or
carrying out maintenance or servicing works in the production or storage area,
every time they visit.
·
Auditors – we expect to be treated the
same way as we are also visiting your production and storage areas
·
Returning to work after sickness, before
being permitted back into the food production or storage areas
What does the record need to ask
or tell people….?
·
What allergies they have?
·
Allergens which are not permitted on site
·
Symptoms - Sickness / diarrhoea / fever -
Rules for permitting back into the food production areas – 48 hour rule since
last symptoms. There are clear FSA guidelines which you can print and use,
which are very detailed and helpful: https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/fitnesstoworkguide.pdf
·
Reoccurring infections, such as skin
infections, or ears, throat or eyes. They may need excluding from the
production and storage areas if they have a flare up of the infection, and this
would have to be catered for.
·
Are they a Typhoid or Paratyphoid or
Salmonella carrier? People who are carriers cannot work in a food
environment as they can cross contaminate. If they have previously been a
carrier and are now clear, they will need a sign off from their doctor as
evidence which you would have to hold on their file.
·
Has the person been in contact with
people carrying the above diseases? They would have to be confirmed as clear by
a doctor to be permitted to return to work.
·
Countries visited in last 6 weeks? This
is to assess if someone gets ill after their return there is a possibility it
could be a more serious infectious disease depending on the country visited.
COVID19 health questions need
to be added.
Below is the link to the
government guidelines, which I have also outlined for you below…
Everyone is still finding the
right way to handle the changes due to coronavirus, but the guidelines state we
have a responsibility as business owners. It is advised to ask the health
questionnaire questions via telephone call rather than face2face for obvious
reasons!
Questions to add to your health
questionnaire are suggested as:
·
Have you been tested or awaiting a result for
Covid19?
o If
so, they will need to self-isolate until test results are received
o If
they have had Covid19 they must have self-isolated until they are symptom free
(at least 7 days from the first signs of illness), with no fever remaining
(apparently the cough and loss of smell and taste can last for some time after)
·
Have you been in contact with anyone who has is
confirmed as having Covid19?
o If
so, they will be contacted by the NHS track and trace system and told if they
need to self-isolate themselves. Although I would say self-isolation until they
receive the NHS alert would seem sensible to me, depending on how close the
contact was (less or more than 2m away).
In addition, the following
questions should be asked:
Do you have:
·
A new continuous cough
·
A high temperature
·
A loss of, or change in, your normal sense of
taste or smell (anosmia)
·
Are you identified as vulnerable person if you
were to become ill with coronavirus?
If a staff member has any of the
symptoms above they must stay at home, self-isolate and arrange to have a test
to see if they have COVID-19.
·
The people that they have been in contact with
within the last 48 hours must be alerted, that might be the rest / or part of
the team members and this part should be your responsibility as the business
owner
·
If the test returns and it is negative, they are
able to return to work
·
If positive for coronavirus, they must share
information promptly about their recent contacts through the NHS test and trace
service to help them to alert other people who may need to self-isolate
·
If anyone has had close recent contact with
someone who has coronavirus, they must self-isolate if the NHS test and trace
service advises them to do so
If I was the business owner, I
would want to see proof of all of the above, and hold it on file, so you have
the evidence you and your staff have carried out procedures correctly.
If there are vulnerable employees
in your team, you need to take extra precautions with regards to their work
activities, you could alter roles within the business to try to ensure the
tasks they are required to carry out are more suitable and reduce the amount of
contact with other people. If it is not a suitable environment for them,
perhaps furlough could be an option?
Staff absence is incredibly
disruptive for any business, and protecting them from the illness is essential,
therefore preventing anyone onto your site who has Covid19 by using the
questionnaire first is absolutely key.
Social Distancing in the work
place
There are some government
guidelines on reopening sites after closing throughout lockdown, which might be
a helpful bit of reading for you, and it can be used for caterers and food
manufacturers:
https://www.food.gov.uk/print/pdf/node/4261
I’d like to highlight the social
distancing part of the document which is towards the end, but here is a summary
of the information for you to consider:
Social distancing measures
·
Provide 2 metre social distancing where possible
·
Minimise staff/customer interactions
·
Provide social distancing when carrying out
training
·
Identify staff at higher risk
·
Cohort working teams to lower staff mixing
·
Increase ventilation (but ensure you have
screening on doors and windows to prevent pests!)
On that note, that is the end of
this section. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions.
Be careful and stay safe!
Ruth
Ruthshawconsultingltd@gmail.com
07732
966 836
Comments
Post a Comment