Personal Safety Standards

Clothing

Uniforms, aprons, and garments should be clean when beginning a shift and change regularly when necessary Employees should not wear uniforms or aprons outside of the food preparation area Avoid wearing damaged or worn out uniforms, aprons or garments Personal clothing should not be worn in the working area Uniform of any kind should not be worn travelling to and from work Storage facilities and changing amenities should be provided for the overall benefit of the business Dirty clothing items should be stored in a laundry bag and away from food preparation areas Educate yourself on the reasons of uniform and protective clothing

Personal Hygiene

When working in any environment with food maintaining a high standard of hand-washing is extremely important. The diagram below outlines the best way to wash your hands and ensure you are safe to interact with food. You should wash your hands frequently (every 20 minutes) or after the following occurrences:  Before beginning or recommencing work After using the toilet Before handling cooked foods When handling or preparing raw food After touching bins or handling rubbish After smoking When you cough, sneeze, touch bare skin etc. Moreover, you are better off using disposable tissues rather than a handkerchief After cleaning, interacting with people and handling money The best means of washing your hands is with hot soapy water.   

Personal Hygiene

Keep your hair in a neat and tidy state, and where provided wear a hairnet in the presence of food Wear clean protective clothing when interacting with food Keep fingernails trimmed and do not wear artificial nails or fingernail polish Utilise single-use gloves for handling and preparing food; this will help to prevent contamination with frequent changing If using multi-use gloves make sure they are washed, sanitised and rinsed between uses Remove all jewellery from hands and arms  Make sure to keep all cuts, grazes and sores bandaged up with an easily identifiable coloured band-aid Showering on a daily basis will help to prevent pathogens from skin and hair coming into contact with food What do you do when suffering from ailments and illnesses that may be a hazard to food safety?  The first step is to not panic when feeling sick in the working environment Common ailments which people suffer from that effect the safety of food are vomiting and diarrhoea Report to a supervisor in the event of suffering from any ailment or illness It is better that you remain absent while sick rather than be around areas of food preparation  If you do suffer from diarrhoea or vomiting, you should not return to work until 48 hours after the symptoms have cleared