Do Hair Nets have to be worn over ears?
I have a question about wearing hair nets. I have alot of trouble getting people to wear their hair nets below their ears. Are there any regulations stating they have to be worn below the ears?
The only actual "requirement" is that hair restraints cover all hair and thst includes hair in the ear and as a side bonus wearing a haircut below the ear also prevents ear wax from falling into product.
No known regulations. However, IME and as Glenn stated above, it is much easier to contain ALL hair if they are worn over the ears, so I have always made this mandatory.
There shouldn't be any requirement to wear hairnets over the ear.
Doesn't stop you from doing so though, I personally wear my hairnet over my ear.
We ask that they are worn over the ear to keep earplugs nearby. Ours are tethered to each other, but it is a nice practice. Maybe you need bigger hairnets?
Hi,
there is no general regulation for such points.
For in a bakery (rather warm conditions) (!) and our customers/contract manufacturers - best practice is wearing hairnet covering all hairs. Nets have to be worn covering the ears. No change over shift time (with a few exceptions).
Rgds
moskito
We must understand the objective of wearing the hair net.Then identify the possible parts that can contaminate the product and make use of the hair net.
In most cases procedures usually fail for lack of understanding the objective.
Regards,
Maurice.
There is no SPECIFIC wording requirement to cover ears (that I know of) but it is standard practice & has been for years because scalp hair should be "fully covered".
(see below dated 2012)
https://www.foodsafe...safety/#Section 7
For standard wear just google "food industry mob cap" or look in a suppliers catalogue - 99% of photos will shows ears covered by the headwear.
If you have customer audits I would imagine they may challenge your protocols if they see people without their ears covered.
Also some people have hairy ears & so covering the ears would be sensible to prevent this.
Staff don't like PPE so they will always challenge protocols - eg. some staff like to tie a knot in the back of their mob cap (Pirates of the Caribbean style!) - in such cases I always politely request that staff 'customisations' of PPE are not permitted.
If the wearing of the hairnets as you are doing is working, monitoring and a risk analysis is performed and recorder showing the outcome as adequate for its purpose, then you should be fine as you are doing it. However, as Glenn stated above (gross as it may be), there are many considerations: do you have older people that may have significant ear hair growth or excessive ear wax buildup (without violating confidentiality), you might be better erring on the safe side and make it an over-the-ear rule across the board.
I have not seen any specific requirement stating the ears themselves must be covered. I do notice that when they are not covered the hairnet has a tendency to crawl back and let hair fall loose. It also helps contain the ear plugs if they would come out. It is up to your site to define your specific requirement and then hold everyone accountable to the same standard. I have found that documenting the specific requirement in the GMP procedure to be the best way to hold them accountable. Since it may not be in the standard if it is in your procedure and they must follow your site requirement.