About FS info sheets and Food handlers behavior

Hi,

Here is a couple of nice studies about Food safety training that I used for exam preparation, might also be relevant for this forum. If they already are here then please delete this topic

HandHygiene1.pdf   338.08KB   76 downloads
HandHygiene6.pdf   141.1KB   58 downloads


Have a nice weekend!
Best regards from Inesa

Thank you, they're new to me anyway so I've taken some copies and filed them away!

Dear Inesa,

Thks for the documents. Interesting.

No argument that food handler's (poor) hygiene activities are significantly correlated to food safety incident statistics. Nonetheless, I have occasionally seen it opinioned that the USA is somewhat obsessive about (body related) hygiene. It would be fascinating to apply some of the psycho. procedures in these attachments to a variety of countries for comparison purposes.

Just as an illustration - I haven't checked all the various personal hygiene "want" lists posted here but I'm guessing that the handwashing step involving "sub-fingernail cleaning" is unique to USA ? Tesco (UK) certainly don't require it anyway (the ironic aspect is that in this case a detailed validation has actually been published [Snyder])

Rgds / Charles.C

Just as an illustration - I haven't checked all the various personal hygiene "want" lists posted here but I'm guessing that the handwashing step involving "sub-fingernail cleaning" is unique to USA ? Tesco (UK) certainly don't require it anyway (the ironic aspect is that in this case a detailed validation has actually been published [Snyder])

Rgds / Charles.C

I suppose they do ask for nails to be short though (but then you get into definitions regarding "what is short"!

I've not read them all yet but do remember reading in a textbook that food production operator infected carriers were seen as being a major cause of food outbreaks in the US; much bigger than the UK (although I read the subtext at the time as meaning "maybe we just haven't spotted it yet"). I wonder though with the much lower level of state welfare in the UK and dependance of staff in catering on tips in the US that staff are more likely to work when ill? Perhaps it's not just the hand hygiene which should be addressed then?

I do love the statement

"The most common factor leading to an incorrect hand washing event (93% of incorrect hand washing events) was the lack of proper hand drying with a paper towel. Many observed participants used common-use dry rags, aprons, or other garments to dry their hands"

It's been a battle in the past to explain to people that the drying stage is part of the handwashing.

Hi ,

my conclusion were that a well educated shift manager plays a key role. I've noticed that everyone is focusing only on employees who are handling food and give all blame to them.
What about managers? Are they really ready to support their staff and have all answers ready? updated? As we see from paper No2 non-educated food handlers were behaving almost as "good" as educated ones and some places had much better knowledge as use of thermometer, but they had probably well educated shift managers.
I was surprised that basic hygiene training is not mandatory in USA. Or I misunderstood something???

I've found 2 more interesting papers in my pc"training" folder:
FoodControlHygieneTraining.pdf   182.21KB   64 downloads

FoodControlHygTraining.pdf   80.81KB   54 downloads

FoodControlTurkey.pdf   72.01KB   36 downloads


regards

my conclusion were that a well educated shift manager plays a key role. I've noticed that everyone is focusing only on employees who are handling food and give all blame to them.

Thanks for all of the resources. This is such a valuable site!

On the above point; I completely agree but having worked as a shift manager, I also know what a blooming awful and difficult job it is and how little resources are put into training shift managers in food safety (I already had the knowledge though fortunately) and how your managers are not interested in the health and safety results and food safety results; just tonnage / OEE and cost.

Since having worked in that role and become more senior; I've pushed for every production or morning meeting has the structure:

Health and Safety
Quality / Food safety / Hygiene
Production / OEE / Plans etc.

Otherwise the shift managers and shop floor operators see what I see that if OEE comes first, quality etc doesn't matter as much.

Dear GMO,

Nice to know you can use those files.

you made me a little scared with that managers job description
Those morning meetings, how much time does it take to discuss all topics you've mentioned, it looks like a lot of talking every morning

Otherwise the shift managers and shop floor operators see what I see that if OEE comes first, quality etc doesn't matter as much.
Can you tell me shortly what shop floor operators are? I'm not sure i understand what you mean

Sorry for questioning

p.s. ok, I already found the meaning of shop floor

Dear GMO,

Nice to know you can use those files.

you made me a little scared with that managers job description
Those morning meetings, how much time does it take to discuss all topics you've mentioned, it looks like a lot of talking every morning

Otherwise the shift managers and shop floor operators see what I see that if OEE comes first, quality etc doesn't matter as much.
Can you tell me shortly what shop floor operators are? I'm not sure i understand what you mean

Sorry for questioning

p.s. ok, I already found the meaning of shop floor

Yep. The shift manager is a scary job (at least from my experience in the UK) and IMO more technical people should try doing the job as we expect a lot of first line management but sometimes don't understand the pressures of it.



A very intuitive point; morning meetings can turn into talking shops but a good morning meeting shouldn't. It should be 30 mins max and headlines only, e.g:

H&S representative: "yesterday there were 0 accidents, 1 near miss report, 3 hazard reports and 4 behavioural safety reports all of which have been actioned."

QA representative "yesterday there was 1 audit, 4 corrective actions were raised with the relavent people, complaints this week were 10 CPMU, micro this week, we have had no failures. We are behind on completion of 3 corrective actions and the people who own them have been reminded of this and asked to resolve them within the week."

Production representative "yesterday OEE was 60%, there are some labour issues for later in the week which have been covered with other shifts, I have concerns over packaging stocks and procurement are aware and are chasing the suppliers"

Engineering representative "no planned downtime this week but we've agreed with planning and production to have time next week and plans and manning have been adjusted accordingly."

Planning representative "one change to the plan this week due to a trial agreed with QA and production; a further possible change if packaging is not supplied but we will keep everyone informed"

Finance (once a week): "here's a quick overview of the numbers for last week, slight overspend on training but we made that decision knowing we had underspent in previous weeks"

Chair: "one visit this week from the chief executive, nothing special needed, just inform the teams"

So that would be a good meeting where it's more about communication and making sure everyone is on the same page. It's unlikely to last longer than 30 mins.

A bad meeting would start like this and go on and on and on...


H&S representative: "yesterday there were 0 accidents, 1 near miss report which was about the packing machine having a sharp edge and catching an operator's sleeve. Mr Engineer, can you add that to your worklist?

Engineering representative: "I've got everyone on jobs today already. Now I'm going to have to replan their workload"

H&S representative: "H&S has to come first! Tut! 3 hazard reports, there was a box by the fire exit, a cable trip hazard and a wet floor. Mr Production, can you sort this out? 4 behavioural safety reports I've got here, Mr Production can you talk to these 4 people about it?

Production representative: "They're not back on shift now till Friday"

QA representative "yesterday there was 1 audit, 4 corrective actions. The first one was the wrong version of the paperwork was in use on the shop floor. Mr Production, please can you get that sorted? Etc.

Not only does that take far too long but you end up showing up your colleagues in front of their management which makes them look bad (I call them "hand grenades"; those little bombs that someone is going into a meeting unprepared for then gets thrown their way) and loads of people get stuck in detail that they shouldn't when they can seek out the detail later if they want it if they have the "headlines". Also if you're used to meetings like that, it ends up that people wait till the meeting to communicate and things aren't done in a timely way.

Dear All,

Slightly

Frankly, I think GMO has worked in some well-organised environments.

One of my audit experiences (admittedly at one end of the spectrum) was a factory where the shift overlap step essentially consisted of : one black book, one red book, a telephone number (apparently not always the same one ). The only (insurance related) case where physical overlap was mandatory was if a theft had occurred – from my observation, always in the night shift, but not my direct audit scope !

Often, the primary morning objective in my Production experience was for the departing personnel to get some sleep and the incoming to get some coffee. IMEX shift work can be a piece of cake or the exact opposite.

Rgds / Charles.C

Thank you guys a lot for "off topic's" !!

wow GMO, very vivid description of morning meetings, good and bad examples! I'm glad to get some pictures in the head how it might happen.

It became clear: not enough to know a lot about foodmaking. You have also to be good at communicating in a proper way and sharing info with your team. At this point, I'm sure, some training about effective team communication would be useful.
See, I brought this topic "back to topic"

Thanks once more!