Reuse of Mob caps

Hi All,

I have recently joined a food business where employees in the High Risk take their mob cap off while visiting to toilets or canteen and put in their pockets and on their way back to HR they put same cap on again.

But In my previous Job employees never take off their Mob cap, until it is soiled etc, even they were visiting toilets or canteen.

Both are sandwich manufacturers and BRC Accredited.

I am confused who is right and who is wrong.

Please help!

Regards
Martin

Hi All,

I have recently joined a food business where employees in the High Risk take their mob cap off while visiting to toilets or canteen and put in their pockets and on their way back to HR they put same cap on again.
But In my previous Job employees never take off their Mob cap, until it is soiled etc, even they were visiting toilets or canteen.
Both are sandwich manufacturers and BRC Accredited.
I am confused who is right and who is wrong.
Please help!

Regards
Martin

Hi Martin,

This may relate to the application of M&S standards:

M&S Code of Practice and Guidelines For The Manufacture of High Care Food Products

Head covering should be either a disposable mobcap type or a full balaclava and should be changed daily. Headwear can be worn across the whole site without changing between areas, except on sites where raw proteins are handled. In these cases, headwear should be changed on leaving the raw protein handling area. Once removed, disposable headwear should be discarded and not worn a second time.

Regards,

Tony

They should not be reused imo unless they are kept on due to the risk of putting them on inside out (and hence hairs on the outside of the cap!) No brainer for me.

They should not be reused imo unless they are kept on due to the risk of putting them on inside out (and hence hairs on the outside of the cap!) No brainer for me.

Hi GMO,

I utterly have the same opinion on it.
Thanks for your comments.

Regards
Martin

Hi Martin,

This may relate to the application of M&S standards:

M&S Code of Practice and Guidelines For The Manufacture of High Care Food Products

Regards,

Tony

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your comments.

As we are not manufacturers for M&S, could we use same COP for our own label manufacturing by just reviewing our procedure?

Regard

Martin

Dear All,

I found the previous posts rather confusing even though i forget what a mobcap looks like (never mind a balaclava!). Was the conclusion that it was OK to use the same headgear in Low / High Risk areas / Toilets ? My experience is a different colour coded system along with physical segregation of (outermost) clothing.

Wearing caps in toilets sounds very British (MontyP take note) ! Newspapers supplied in situ ?

Rgds / Charles.C

Hi Martin - I assume that you are talking about net type caps here? If so, in my opinion, they should never be reused. I would also not allow them to be worn outside the High Risk area and certainly not into toilet or canteen areas.
For me it's simple hygienic practice and if staff are allowed to reuse an item, or wear it in an area they possibly should not then confusion with regards to other items can set in so it's far easier to err on the side of caution!!
Different colours for different areas is always good!
Good luck
Richard

Hi Martin - I assume that you are talking about net type caps here? If so, in my opinion, they should never be reused. I would also not allow them to be worn outside the High Risk area and certainly not into toilet or canteen areas.
For me it's simple hygienic practice and if staff are allowed to reuse an item, or wear it in an area they possibly should not then confusion with regards to other items can set in so it's far easier to err on the side of caution!!
Different colours for different areas is always good!
Good luck
Richard

That's also my experience.

Thanks for your input Richard and welcome to the forums.



Regards,
Simon