Page 25 - FoodFocusThailand No.163 October 2019

SPECIAL FOCUS

How Much is Poor Hand Hygiene • In the spirit of Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Costing Your Business? Point, ensure you evaluate, measure and monitor the
Hand hygiene systems aren’t just critical effectiveness of your sanitation and hygiene program,
aspects of food safety. They’re also part of and strive for continuous improvement.
our overall efforts to keep workers safe and Sanitation and hygiene together represent one of
healthy. It’s estimated that health-related our best defenses to preserve food safety and quality.
work losses cost U.S. employers more than If your business is certified to a standard recognized by
$260 billion each year. And proper hand Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), or you’re interested
hygiene can go a long way to protecting in taking this step to enhance your business, sanitation
workers from illness. and hygiene will play a major role.
Are Gloves the Answer to เอกสารอ้างอิง/Reference
Hand Hygiene Problems? https://globalfoodsafetyresource.com/hand-sanitation-program/
It’s often said that consumers are comforted
by the sight of gloves on food handlers. But
one Washington Post article by an
experienced food consultant cautioned
against the indiscriminate use of gloves
describing situations where workers wash
their hands, put on gloves, and then
seamlessly move between raw meat,
vegetables and other ingredients.
Apparently, this is not uncommon behaviour.
What’s more, hand washing is less likely to
occur when gloves are worn, and the false
sense of security they provide can result in
more high-risk behaviours that could lead
to cross-contamination.

Best Practices for
Hand Sanitation and Hygiene
Here are some suggestions for supporting
good hand hygiene:
• Equip workers with robust training
and resources to keep their hands clean.
Demonstrate proper handwashing
technique, post image-heavy signage
throughout the workplace for a ‘blink and
think’ reminder, and ensure you build time
in your processes to allow employees to
wash their hands properly.
• Engage your workers: build a food
safety culture that prioritizes hand washing
and seek feedback from employees to
ensure they have what they need for clean
hands.
• Automatic or foot pedal-operated
hand sinks can help reduce the spread of
bacteria.
• If you supplement your hand hygiene
processes with liquid hand sanitizers,
ensure they’re used only after appropriate
hand washing, and that hands are allowed
to air-dry before working with food.
• Use antibacterial hand towels and
automatic dispenser systems.
• Closed, sealed soap dispensers
eliminate exposure to the air and the
potential for contamination.

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