Risk Management as Applied to Food Safety, Sanitation and Security 2020

Module 3: Employee Health and Personal Hygiene

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the personal hygiene practices.
2. Enumerate examples of clothing, personal protective clothing, bandages
and dressings.
3. Identifying and reporting unsafe food handling practices.
4. Identify and follow enterprise standards and proper hand washing.
5. Describe the procedures for controlling personal habits.

FOLLOW WORKPLACE HYGIENE PROCEDURES IN ACCORDANCE WITH

ENTERPRISE STANDARDS AND LEGISLATED REQUIREMENTS

It is vital all workplace hygiene procedures are complied with at all times, without
exception. This Section presents several workplace hygiene procedures that will enable
identified workplace food safety hazards to be effectively addressed.

Personal hygiene

As a food handler you must be aware you, your actions, your health, and your
personal habits have a great impact on the safety and quality of food served to the
public.

Personal hygiene is a serious issue and must be treated as such.

The industry simply cannot afford to tolerate workers who treat it as a joke. You
are regarded by customers and employers as a professional and must therefore know
what is expected in this regard, cultivate sound work practices, and be vigilant in
ensuring personal hygiene requirements are complied with.

In general terms all food handlers are under an obligation to observe and
implement personal hygiene practices to minimize the possibility of food contamination.
Practices to achieve this include:

● Avoid touching food with the bare hands –use tongs, a spatula, fork,
serving spoon or gloves when touching food especially food that will not
be further cooked or processed
● Avoid touching food surfaces with the bare hands –this means avoiding
touching preparation benches, preparation equipment and the food
contact surfaces of serving items such as plates, bowls and cups with the
bare hands
● No jewelry to be worn on hands and wrists –food can lodge in the jewelry,
deteriorate and then fall back into food. There is also a chance

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stones/gems may fall out from rings and jewelry into the food providing a
physical contaminant. If you simply must wear a ring, then cover it using a
coloured band-aid and disposable glove
● Facial hair must be kept neat and controlled –hair should either be
covered or sprayed to keep it controlled in such a way that hairs do not fall
into food. Long hair must be tied back, and beards should also be
covered. In kitchens and food areas, hair nets or hats should be worn
● Fingernails must be short, clean and free of polish (including clear nail
polish) –cracked fingernails and chipped nail polish can harbour bacteria
and may also flake off into food. Fingernail decorations and artificial nails
are also prohibited
● Clothing must be clean –a minimum requirement is for clean clothes for
each shift with further changes as spillages and 'working dirt' dictate. You
are not permitted to wear „food handling‟ clothes to and from work
● Cuts and sores must always be covered –a coloured, water-proof dressing
must be applied and a finger stall also used where necessary. A
disposable glove can also be worn where the cut or sore is on the hands
● Food handlers in the acute state of a common cold must not handle
uncovered food –but they may, for example, work where food is in sealed
containers, such as in a bottle shop or a retail shop where all food sold is
in tins or sealed packets
● Food handlers with any communicable disease must not deal with food
until they receive a certificate from a doctor stating as a food handler they
are cleared to work with food –see Section 3.2 for more detail.
Disposable gloves

The use of protective, disposable gloves in food handling is an excellent safe

food handling practice but gloves do not/cannot fix all food hygiene problems.

When wearing/using disposable gloves:

● Change gloves immediately they are ripped/torn –do not continue working
while wearing torn gloves
● Change gloves between handling raw and cooked, ready-to-eat foods –to
avoid cross contamination (such as the transfer of bacteria from raw
food/blood to cooked, ready-to-eat foods)Change gloves every hour
regardless –you cannot wear the same pair of gloves for longer than this,
or for an entire shift
● If handling money do not use the same gloved hand to handle food –take
one glove off, handle the money with that hand (without the glove on), and
then put on a new/clean glove before returning to food handling duties

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● If changing gloves during service, ensure they are not taken off over
food/food surfaces –if the gloves contain powder, this may fall out onto
food or food preparation surfaces and provide a source of contamination
● Do not try to put on gloves that have already been used –disposable
gloves must be disposed off/thrown out as soon as they are taken off
● Do not turn gloves inside out and try to wear them again –see
aboveChange gloves whenever they become contaminated from whatever
source –raw food, blood, sneezing, chemicals, scratching the face,
handling rubbish.
Clothing, personal protective clothing, bandages and dressings

Dirty clothes and infected cuts and sores all pose a food risk.

You must:

● Ensure anything from your body or anything you wear does not
contaminate food or food surfaces. Practical measures in this regard
include:Avoid loose-fitting clothes
● Do not cough or sneeze over food
● Avoid items of jewelry that hang down/dangle
● Avoid wearing rings when working with food –especially avoid (or
appropriately cover) rings with stones in them
● Do not wear food handling clothes to and from work
● Remove protective clothing(aprons) when using the toilet
Take appropriate measures to minimise contact with ready-to-eat food. Practical
measures in this regard include:

● Not handling cooked, and/or ready-to-eat food with the bare hands
–use tongs
● Handling glasses and cups by their base –and not by the rim
● Handling cutlery by the handles
● Avoiding unnecessary skin contact with food contact surfaces
● Keeping hair tied back –wearing hats or beard nets helps ensure hair
does not fall into food
● Avoiding touching hair while working with food –as this can transfer
bacteria
● Keeping fingernails short –to avoid physical contamination from the
nail (and to make them easier to clean)
● Wearing disposable gloves when handling food –and changing them
regularly/as required
● Avoiding nail polish, fingernail decorations and artificial fingernails

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Wear clean clothing when handling food. Practical measures in this regard
include:

● Wear clean clothes to work daily

● Have a change of clothes available at work –to change into if one set of
clothes becomes dirty / contaminated
● Wear protective clothing such as aprons
● Use waterproof bandages and dressing on exposed parts of the body
where there are cuts and/or sores when handling food. Practical measures
in this regard include:
● Wear only coloured band-aids when handling food –they are easier to
identify if they fall into food.
● Wear a finger stall over a bandage/dressing on a finger –to give extra
protection and security
● Wear a disposable glove over a bandaid, dressing or bandage that is on
the hand.
Identifying and reporting unsafe food handling practices

You are obliged to be constantly alert to the possibility of unsafe food handling
practices occurring in your workplace so you can report them in order that
appropriate corrective action can be taken.

How would you identify non-compliant practices?

The three main ways to identify problems in the workplace in relation to food safety are:

● Personal observation of conditions and/or staff practice

● Inspection of raw materials, premises, equipment and final products
● Review of food safety records.
How should/could these ‘out of control’ situations be reported?

Speed is important in responding to and reporting inconsistencies and „out of

control‟ situations so the recommended methods of reporting are:

● Face-to-face
● Verbally, over the phone.
Reports should be made to:

● Management

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● Relevant staff –who are involved in the problem, or will be involved in fixing the
problem
● Customers –only where a recall of food has been decided as being necessary
● Local health authorities –only where a food recall has been implemented.
When these reports are made, consideration should be given to covering the following:

● Identifying the food involved

● Naming the people involved –staff and customers (where appropriate)Reporting
any action already taken to limit the potential negative impacts
● Recommending action for limiting the future potential negative impacts
● Identifying (if known) what caused the out of control situation
● Describing what you think could/should be done to prevent a recurrence of the
problem.
Note, however, the most important thing is to take appropriate immediate action to prevent food poisoning
–discussions about what needs to be done in the future should wait until after the on-the-spot remedial
action to retrieve the situation has been taken.

Follow enterprise standards and legislated requirements that apply personal

practices and presentation for food handling staff

All the enterprise standards and legislated requirements identified in the previous
Section must be adhered to at all times by food handlers.

This Section addresses common requirements in this regard such as those

relating to staff uniform and hand washing as well as presenting important factors to
note regarding personal sickness/illness of food handlers and personal habits while at
work.

Uniforms

Most food establishments require you to wear a nominated uniform or other personal
protective clothing when working.

The following requirements apply to the wearing of uniforms for food handlers.

● Protective clothing (apron, hat, coat, trousers)worn by food handlers must be

clean –dirty clothing may directly or indirectly contaminate food and/or food
preparation equipment or surfaces
● You are obliged to ensure your clothing does not contaminate food or
food-related equipment, utensils or surfaces
● Clothing that becomes dirty and a risk to food must be changed –to avoid cross
contamination. Outer clothing needs to be changed when it has become soiled

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as a result of handling exposed (that is, not packaged) high risk raw food and
there is then a need to handle exposed ready-to-eat food
● Protective clothing such as aprons, overalls, hats, gloves and other outer
protective clothing/equipment should be removed before visiting the toilet.

Ensuring clothing or other items worn do not contaminate food

You must take care to ensure none of your clothing or other items you wear will
contaminate the food you handle.

The biggest cause of concern in this regard is items falling into the food and present a
physical contamination problem, and clothing making contact with food or food contact
surfaces and providing a source of cross contamination.

Clothes

● Practical measures to help guard against contamination from clothes include:

● Ensure uniform/food handling clothes are not loose
● Ensure buttons on food handling clothes are not loose
● Avoid adding brooches, name tags, clips, pins to clothes –unless they are
securely fastened and unable to fall off
● Do not wear food handling clothes to and from work
Jewelry

Practical measures to avoid food safety problems from jewelry include:

● As a food handler avoid all jewelry –and watches –on hands and wrists.
Even plain, banded rings can cause a potential food poisoning source.
Disposable gloves should be when handling food if these are worn.

Some house rules ban the wearing of all jewelry by food handlers

● Do not wear ear-rings –ear-rings that dangle are the worst but not wearing them
at all is preferable.
Sleepers may be acceptable but check house rules first

● Avoid fiddling/playing with jewelry –especially ear-rings in pierced ears.

This can cause cross contamination and also loosen items making them more
likely to fall off.

Hair ornaments

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Practical measures relating to the wearing of hair ornaments for food handlers include:

● Do not wear hair clips or hair pins

● As a food handler it is preferable to wear no hair ornaments at all If something is
worn in the hair, double-check to ensure it is securely fastened in place
● Wear a hair net or hat to guard against items falling out of the hair and into food
or into food preparation equipment or onto food preparation surfaces.
Hand washing

Health authorities believe the single most important aspect in preventing food poisoning
outbreaks is for food handlers to wash their hands properly and to wash them „when
required‟.

When must food handlers wash their hands?

All food handlers are required to wash their hands before or after nominated activities.

The intention is to ensure the hand washing process removes potential food poisoning
sources from the hands so the possibility of cross contamination is reduced.

The times when food handlers must wash their hands are:

● Any time the hands are likely to be a source of contamination –this can cover a
wide range of possible circumstances and it is impossible to identify them all but
the following is a representative list:
✔ After handling rubbish/garbage and before handling food or food contact
surfaces
✔ After undertaking cleaning duties and before handling food or food contact
surfaces
✔ After handling animals and before handling food or food contact surfaces
✔ After changing a baby‟s nappy and before handling food or food contact
surfaces
✔ After handling money and before handling food or food contact surfaces
✔ In between handling raw food (meat, fish or chicken) and handling other foods
such as cooked and/or ready-to-eat food
● Before starting food handling duties –this means food handling staff must wash
their hands when they arrive at work even though they may have showered,
bathed or washed their hands at home before coming to work
● Immediately after engaging in nominated activities proven to be associated with
bacterial transfer/cross contamination. The nominated activities include:
✔ Smoking –including using tobacco products
✔ Coughing or sneezing
✔ Using a handkerchief or nasal tissue –which includes blowing the nose

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✔ Eating or drinking
✔ Touching hair, scalp, mouth, nose, ears, any body opening or any wound.
● After any absence from the work station –this means every time a food handler
leaves the kitchen (or other place where they are handling food), they must wash
their hands on their return to work and before they handle food. These absences
from the work station may involve or be caused by:
✔ Leaving the kitchen to accept a delivery of food into the premises from a
supplier
✔ Taking a phone call
✔ Doing another job that is not a food-related task
● Immediately after using the toilet and before handling food or food contact
surfaces –this applies to all instances where the toilet was used and includes a
requirement to wash hands after urination as well as after defecation.
Organizational requirements

All food handling premises are entitled to impose policies and procedures exceeding
any applicable minimum legal requirements.

This means, for example, a food handling premises may require food handlers to wash
their hands every 30 minutes or every hour regardless of what activities they are
engaged in.

A business may also require staff to wash their hands in the wash hand basin in the
toilet after using the toilet, and then wash their hands again when they re-enter the
kitchen/food area.

Where the workplace has hand washing requirements exceeding the mandatory
minimum requirements, always adhere to nominated workplace practices.

Obligations on employers

To allow food handlers to wash their hands as required, employers should provide and
maintain permanent and readily accessible hand washing facilities wherever food
handlers are likely to have hands that are a source of contamination –including
providing those facilities in toilets.

These hand washing facilities should:

● Be supplied with a continuous supply of warm running, potable water –the

accepted temperature of this water to be 40oCBe supplied with soap –most food
premises use bulk soap dispensers dispensing liquid anti-bacterial soap: the use
of bars of soap is to be avoided as the soap can transfer bacteria

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● Only be used for washing hands, arms and face –the wash hand basins must not
be used for other purposes such as a food preparation sink.
● Sinks in the kitchen/food preparation area used for other purposes (washing
vegetables, preparing food) must not be used for hand washing
● Be of an appropriate size enabling the effective washing of hands
● Be supplied with appropriate means of drying the hands –this can be single-use
(paper) towels and hot air dryers
✔ It is not acceptable for a business to provide only a hot air dryer.
✔ Re-usable towels can be used provided they are washed and dried after
every use –this is extremely unlikely to happen in most businesses so the
preferred option is to use paper/disposable towel.
● Be supplied with a bin –for disposing of used disposable towels.
Consideration should also be given to providing a nail brush so proper hand washing
(including cleaning under the fingernails) can occur.

How to wash hands

The following must be implemented when food handlers wash their hands.

The requirements are food handlers

„thoroughly clean‟ their hands, meaning
they must:

● Rinse off visible and easy to remove

dirt
● Wash their hands for at least 20
seconds, minimum
● Thoroughly and vigorously massage
the soap into the folds and creases
of the hands and wrists
● Clean under the fingernails
● Rinse the soap from the hands
● Thoroughly dry the hands –the preferred method of drying hands is to:
● Shake off excess water
● Dry with paper towel
● Finish with hot air dryer.

Personal sickness, illness and injury

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Body fluids

Body fluids include body secretions which include saliva, mucus, sweat and blood, urine
and fecal matter. Food handlers should take the following practical measures to prevent
contamination of from body fluids include:

● Washing hands thoroughly after using the toilet

● Washing hands thoroughly after handling a handkerchief or nasal tissue to cough
or sneeze into, and/or using it to blow the nose
● Refraining from spitting in any food area
● Refraining from smoking or chewing tobacco in any food area Staying away from
work when suffering cold or flu symptoms –and obtaining a doctor’s certificate
stating as a food handler it is safe to return to work
● Observing all personal hygiene rules
● Avoiding the tasting of food with a spoon and then returning the utensil to the
food
● Wearing a sweat band –or mopping areas that sweat and then thoroughly
washing hands: consider wearing anti-perspirant
● Covering all cuts and sores with approved waterproof dressings and bandages
–and adding a finger stall and/or disposable glove, as appropriate
● Not blowing with the breath into a bag to be used to wrap food –such as take
away foods
● Not wetting fingers to assist with separating sheets of wrapping paper when
packaging take away foods
● Not touching anybody opening –such as ears, eyes, nose: thorough hand
washing must occur if this happens.

Report personal health issues likely to cause a risk

It is important to take immediate and effective action if you are ill or suffering from
symptoms indicating a food-borne disease.

Management have a role in excluding ill workers from food handling duties but this
does not absolve you of your responsibility to take appropriate action to protect food
safety where you work.

Controlling personal habits

Nearly all food handlers have sub-conscious

habits they need to control to help maintain
the safety of food in the workplace.

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Coughing and sneezing

Try to refrain from coughing or sneezing onto unprotected food –where a cough or
sneeze is inevitable (or unexpected) and unprotected food is present, the
recommended procedure is to:

● Cough or sneeze into hands and then thoroughly wash hands

● Dispose of any food that has been contaminated
● Clean and sanitize any food surfaces, equipment or utensils that have been
contaminated.
Picking, scratching and touching

As a food handler you must cultivate the discipline to not scratch yourself (such as
scratching an itch; scratching your head when thinking), pick your nose, cuts, sores
and scabs, or touch your eyes, nose, mouth or ears while at work.

This is another major source of contamination transferring infection/bacteria from the

skin or other areas to food, utensils or food preparation/contact surfaces.

If you have picked or scratched yourself:

● Dispose of any food that has been contaminated

● Clean and sanitize any food surfaces, equipment or utensils that have been
contaminated
● Try not to do it again.
Eating in food areas

When staff eats in food areas they must:

● Not eat any food over an unprotected food surface –such as food preparation
equipment, preparation benches, serving equipment or crockery, cutlery or
glassware
● Not eat any food over any unprotected food –this applies to raw food,
ready-to-eat food or any food that is not covered, wrapped or packaged so
that it cannot become contaminated through food falling onto it.
Note: individual premises may have house policies totally forbidding the
consumption of food while working.

Note also the above requirements in relation to eating over unprotected food and
unprotected food surfaces applies to anyone on the premises –including
members of the public, customers and visitors.

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Smoking and spitting

In any food area you must never:

● Smoke
● Chew tobacco
● Spit.
It is a good idea to put up “No Smoking‟
posters in all food areas and to remove ash
trays from these areas.

If you smoke outside the work/food area

remember you must wash your hands before
returning to work to remove any bacteria
transferred from the mouth/lips to the fingers
as part of the smoking process.

Summary

Follow hygiene procedures

● When following hygiene procedures:

● Identify all legislated and workplace safe food handling requirements
● Never be afraid to ask for advice or direction about what needs to be done
● Complete all necessary workplace documents to reflect and record safe food
handling activities
● Take special care when handling potentially hazardous/high risk foods
● Minimize the time high risk food spends in the Temperature Danger Zone
● Use a properly calibrated probe food thermometer to test the temperature of food
and food appliances
● Realize safe food handling practices apply to beverages as well as food
● Implement required personal hygiene practices and standards
● Avoid contact with the bare hands with prepared/ready-to-eat food Be constantly
alert to the potential for unsafe food handling practices and take appropriate
action (or report them) when identified
● Only buy food from approved sources/businesses
● Check all incoming food to ensure it is safe
● Store all food according to its individual requirements
● Rotate food using FIFO stock rotation principles
● Handle food to protect it from contamination
● Discard all out-of-date stock
● Never thaw foods by placing them into sinks/bowls of water

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● Always observe the two-step rule for cooling hot food
● Be alert to the potential for cross contamination and guard against it
● Only re-heat previously cooked food once and re-heat it to 70°C for 2 minutes
● Supervise the self-service of food by customers to themselves
● Keep hot food hot (60°Cand above) and cold food cold (5°Cand below) when it is
displayed for sale/service
● Ensure service items (including single-use items) are clean
● Only use single-use items once
● Follow designated cleaning schedules and instructions when cleaning food
surfaces, items, utensils, equipment and areas
● Clean all food equipment and surfaces after every session, or every four hours
● Use detergent and a sanitizer to clean food items, surfaces, equipment, crockery
and cutlery

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Australia New Zealand Food Authority (ANZFA), January 2001 (2nded‟n), Safe Food
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Ballard, C., 2010, Food safety, Gareth Stevens Publishing, Pleasantville, NY.

Brown, M., 2010 (6thed‟n), Safe food handling, Chisholm Institute of TAFE, Dandenong,
Victoria.

CSIRO, 2010, Make it safe: a guide to food safety, CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood,
Victoria.

D‟Mello, J.P.F., 2003, Food safety: contaminants and toxins, CABI Publishing, Oxford.

Hickman, A., 2008, Follow workplace hygiene procedures: SITXOHS002A, William

Angliss Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

Hickman, A., 2008, Implement food safety procedures: SITXFSA001A, William Angliss
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Knowles, T., 2002, Food safety in the hospitality industry, Butterworth-Heinemann,

Boston, Mass. Marriott, N.G. & Gravani, R.B., 2006 (5thed‟n), Principles of Food
Sanitation, Springer, New York, NY.

Redman, N., 2007 (2nded‟n), Food safety: a reference handbook, ABC-CLIO, Santa
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Internet

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htmhttp://www.health.vic.gov.au/foodsafety/bus/index.

htmhttp://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumerinformation/foodrecalls

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