Glove Policy

Does anybody have a glove policy I can take a look at? At the moment we do not use gloves much in our food handling procedures
or very much for hygiene procedures. To aid me with my RA how would like to take a look at a typical policy just to give me a head start.
We work in a high care area producing RTE shell fish.

Thanks in advance

caddy

BUMP

Dear Caddyshack,

It will obviously depend on where you are.

For example, from memory, the US food code demands use of gloves in some specific situations.

If free choice, the result of numerous threads on this forum indicates that it seems to be a totally subjective decision. Various arguments (with data ) can be found here for both scenarios. Obviously interaction with high risk items accelerates any decision but the conclusion still seems 50/50.

Interestingly, i don't recall anybody actually posting a specific policy here so far, perhaps for the above reasons. Implementation, eg maintenance / validation of surface condition / whatever is a different matter - lot's of advice.

I daresay in the UK it's a free choice legally speaking.??

Rgds / Charles.C

The US policy on glove use is a mix Charles. Most FDA/USDA inspected operations DO require gloves in specific situations, that's solid. However, once you get down to state / municipality - inspected facilities (catering, restaurants, smaller commercial operations), its state / authority having jurisdiction code dependent. Some states require it, some don't see a significant 'need'. Unfortunately for me, most of those states also don't provide Health Inspection Reports online...conspiracy theory or coincidence?

Most policies I've seen on a 'free-choice' facility is based around prevention of cross-contamination of bacteria-prone (high-risk) products, or to assure the public that the server is handling the products he/she is serving with relatively clean 'hands'.
Unfortunately, without proper training, gloves are put on or replaced on hands that haven't been washed. If you observe a deli-counter worker, they usually will pull off their gloves to say, take out the trash or handle a telephone or scratch, cough or handle money, then put on a new set of single-use gloves without washing their hands properly, if at all, resulting in not only compromise of the next 'serving', but usually in the entire box of gloves they just shoved their dirty hands into to get another set.

Regardless of what your specific environment, beginning a glove policy with "always wash your hands properly prior to use" is paramount to any free-choice or required policy, and should be followed by "single-use means single-task". Third should read, "Do not reuse gloves once removed". From there, your policy will probably be unique and subjective to your environment, as Charles states.

A basic free choice policy could look something like this:









Gloves are considered an extension of the hand and will be replaced after any unsanitary act. Hands must be washed when gloves are replaced.

Company supplied gloves must be worn to cover cuts, abrasions or open sores that could lead to contamination of food product even if a metal detectable Band-Aid is worn

Company supplied gloves are to be worn to protect employees from potential injury such as burns when dealing with hot tools or product

Company supplied gloves may also be worn when employees come into direct contact with product, but are not required

Gloves should not be worn or carried outside of the work area

No personal gloves are allowed in the work areas

Dear caddyshack,

I will expand my original post slightly.

1. Here is one (company) precis of what the glove policy could be expected to require / address –

glove policy.png   17.72KB   150 downloads

2. Another one (IATA), less definitive –

1.1.8 Glove Policy
Food provider must have and follow a glove policy (written or verbal) describing to all employees and visitors the appropriate method for the use, disposal and replacement of gloves.

3. And as per an audit checklist requirement (see 2.5.4)

FPA SAFE_Food_Safety_Audit_Checklist.pdf   1.69MB   394 downloads

4.On this forum, might try this post plus rest of thread –

http://www.ifsqn.com...dpost__p__37867

5. On the net, to see some of the (US oriented) scope, try this website –

http://www.handwashi..._handling_risks


6. The involvement of gloves in the opinion of the US Food Code (2005) can be determined by scanning through the attachment below for “gloves”. You will see that generalising is not so simple.

USA 2005 - food-code-05.pdf   2.11MB   157 downloads

7. Here is a fascinatingly (IMO) detailed presentation by a VP/Food Safety/Restaurant chain regarding primarily latex glove issues but touches all kinds of glove aspects on the way (use the page “find” function to scan down to “John Schulz” if you want to skip the first section.).

http://www.fda.gov/o...ipts/3977t2.htm


It is clear that there are legal / operational / philosophical aspects. Maybe this is why there seem to be no compact official glove policies around. (???)

8. Somewhat off-topic, here is a medical slanted risk assessment, some parts are relevant

Hospital Infection Control Manual Section 1 - General Principles V2.00.pdf   1.06MB   79 downloads

@tsmith – Brave starter. One comment - Yr 5th paragraph is contrary to my experience of many (approved) factories.

@Caddyshack - Another interesting post , some eventual feedback might be valuable also.
(the last part of item 1 above should interest you )

@ Chief Inspector - thks for the details, i am beginning to think the USA is truly rather special over federal/national/local whatever although i recall Australia has some similarities, Canada ??
Rgds / Charles.C