The Insider - June

The Insider - June

HE INSIDE HAVE YOU SEEN

OUR ELAS TRAINING COURSES?

UPCOMING ELAS TRAINING COURSES IN JUNE 2017 What training courses can you attend in June 2017? Throughout this month we have a wide range of training courses across the UK which we would love to see you at. Take a look below at our training calendar. For more information or to book your place you can either visit our new training website www.elastraining.co.uk or you can talk to a member of our training team on: 0161 785 2000

LEVEL 3 HACCP » » • Date – 27/06/2017 » » • Duration – 2 days » » • Farnham, GU9 8HT

LEVEL 2 EMERGENCY FIRST AID AT WORK TRAINING COURSE » » • Date – 27/06/2017 » » • Duration – 1 day » » • Location – Central London

ELITE 1 » » Date – 28/06/2017 » » Duration – 1 day » » Location – Central Liverpool

ELITE 2 » » Date – 29/06/2017 » » Duration – 1 day » » Location – Central Liverpool

T : 0 1 6 1 7 8 5 2 0 0 0

W : WWW. E L A S . U K . C OM

T : 0 1 6 1 7 8 5 2 0 0 0

W : WWW. E L A S . U K . C OM

PERSONAL HYGIENE - THE DO’S AND DON’TS

Good personal hygiene is not hard to implement and monitor, but it is still a major problem within the food industry. The Food Standards Agency estimates that infected food handlers cause between 4% and 33% of all food borne diseases outbreaks in the UK.

HAND HYGIENE The hands are the most common vehicle for spreading contamination around a food premises and lead to physical, chemical and even allergenic contamination. Nail varnish and false nails should never be worn at work. Certain hand creams and soaps could contain nuts and lead to allergenic contamination. Use hand soap and barrier cream purchased from a nominated supplier and not those purchased from a shop or supermarket. We all know that proper hand washing can significantly reduce the risk of food borne illness but statistics from the Food Standards Agency show that a staggering 39% of food handlers don’t wash their hands after visiting the toilet. Washing your hands thoroughly usually takes 20 seconds and special attention should be paid to fingertips and nails. A tip is to use a paper towel to turn off the taps otherwise you will contaminate your hands again. Drying your hands is just as important as washing them. Research shows that 85% of micro-organisms are transmitted by wet hands. WE ALL LIKE A BIT OF BLING! We all like a bit of bling but a food premises is not a place to display it. Jewellery can cause physical and pathogenic contamination. Most jewellery is not permitted, although plain wedding rings and sleepers may be allowed as long as they are maintained in a clean condition.

WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF PROTECTIVE CLOTHING? Food safety law states, where necessary, protective clothing must be worn by persons working in a food handling environment. Suitable and clean protective clothing protects food from pathogenic and physical contamination. Pockets are not advisable as they can be used for keeping potential physical contaminants including pens, sweets, money etc. Protective clothing must be stored separately from outside clothing because it could get contaminated – a customer wouldn’t like to find dog hair on their food! The area in which we get changed is also a source of physical contamination and should be kept clean and tidy. One of the most recorded complaints of physical contamination is customers finding hair on or in their food. Tying long hair back, wearing hairnets and hats will significantly reduce the likelihood of hair on or in food, but some employees are still not following this basic requirement for personal hygiene. Remember - always put your head covering on first in order to prevent hair from falling onto protective clothing.

SO WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT PERSONAL HYGIENE? People are a major source of physical and pathogenic contamination, so it’s critical that we all follow strict guidelines on personal hygiene. There are also moral, legal and financial reasons to prevent physical, pathogenic and allergenic contamination in food. Contamination is the presence of any harmful or objectionable substance in or on the food and can lead to illness, injury or a feeling of disgust. The law is very clear about contamination and we all have legal obligations to prevent contaminants in food. Good personal hygiene and reporting any illnesses is critical in reducing the risk. All employees have a legal responsibility to maintain good standards of personal hygiene, report symptoms of food poisoning, heavy colds and certain skin conditions. Managers must ensure all employees and visitors complete the relevant questionnaires, agreements and forms. Failure to monitor and keep records could lead to an outbreak or harm a due diligence defence.

THE THREAT OF FOOD BORNE ILLNESS

Poor personal hygiene and the failure to observe fitness to work guidelines have been linked to numerous outbreaks of food poisoning. Most cases of Norovirus are usually a result of person to person infection or an infected person handling food. Ready to eat foods are particularly at risk as they could be contaminated with low dose organisms at any stage in the food chain and will not be heated before consumption. The best controls are for food handlers to observe high standards of personal hygiene and limit hand contact with food.

T : 0 1 6 1 7 8 5 2 0 0 0

W : WWW. E L A S . U K . C OM

T : 0 1 6 1 7 8 5 2 0 0 0

W : WWW. E L A S . U K . C OM

CAN POPPY SEEDS REALLY LEAD TO A FAILED DRUG TEST?

attempts you have made to contact them, asking them to get in touch with you within a week to explain their absence. The letter should also explain that failure to do so will leave you with no option but to assume that they have resigned from their employment. Should they then fail to respond to this letter you should send a further letter confirming their assumed resignation. If the employee has more than two years continuous service then the procedure is not so simple. You may wish to seek advice on what would be the appropriate action to take in order to ensure that there is no risk of a claim being brought against you for unfair dismissal. For more information call our team today on 0161 785 2000 I have an employee that has not turned up for work all week. I’ve tried to contact them but they are not responding. What can I do?

CONSULTANT CORNER. . . With Liam Grime

Veteran BBC presenter Angela Rippon has found herself testing positive for opiates – after eating poppy seeds in a loaf of bread in the fourth series of Rip Off Britain: Food. The test result picked up the presence of morphine, derived from opium, after she ate a load of poppy seed bread and a poppy seed bagel over the course of three days. The poppy seed experiment came after a contributor to the programme told how he was fired from his job at a power station after a routine drug test showed opiates in his system. Dumbfounded at first, he realised that the answer must be the poppy seed bread he’d eaten for his breakfast toast. Danny Clarke is Operations Director for the ELAS Group . He says: “This episode highlights the need to take competent advice and follow robust testing procedures when conducting workplace drugs testing.

“An instant test result such as this will invariably be open to challenge due to the potential for this type of test to detect medications and supplements as much as illegal substances. This is why a chain of custody procedure, including analysis to confirm any non negative results, will always be required. “Drugs testing on its own is only part of the solution. A drug and alcohol policy and comprehensive training from experts in the field will always be just as important. “In this instance poppy seeds were identified by an opiates test, however, the initial cut off level was such that consumption of certain types would be above the cut off. Once test results are confirmed at a drug test laboratory, it’s possible to distinguish between dietary sources such as poppy seeds and illegal substances such as heroin, which the instant tests are unable to do.”

If an employee is not on authorised leave or certified sickness leave and has failed to report for work or make contact to inform you of their absence, then they are considered to be on unauthorised leave. In other words they are AWOL. Unauthorised absence is a disciplinary offence for which appropriate action can be taken. However, dependent on the employee’s length of service, it may even be possible to assume that they have resigned. The AWOL procedure is usually followed in these situations and, taking into consideration the employee’s notice period, can be a lot quicker if the employee has less than two years continuous service with you. In these circumstances you should write an AWOL letter detailing the date from which the employee has been on unauthorised leave and the

T : 0 1 6 1 7 8 5 2 0 0 0

W : WWW. E L A S . U K . C OM

T : 0 1 6 1 7 8 5 2 0 0 0

W : WWW. E L A S . U K . C OM

From a s l i t t l e to a s much suppor t a s you need . . .

Ca l l or ema i l us to d i s cus s your opt i ons

T: 0161 785 2000 E: [email protected] or visit www.elas.uk.com